Americans call them road games. The label might as well be pain games. Three decades have elapsed since a United States team lifted the Ryder Cup in Europe. Paul Azinger, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Lee Janzen, Corey Pavin, Payne Stewart, John Cook, Davis Love, Chip Beck, Jim Gallagher, Raymond Floyd, Lanny Wadkins; a decent enough collective but unlikely history makers.
Success for the United States in the last Ryder Cup was so emphatic that giddy onlookers pointed towards a decade of dominance. Since Europe retained the trophy at The Belfry in 1989, the US have only actually prevailed half a dozen times. Bold predictions about reducing Europe -and, in fact, the Ryder Cup itself-to an irrelevance were precisely that. Timing can be everything in this competition; in 2021, it was an undeniable fact that umpteen European golfers arrived at Whistling Straits in questionable form.
This was of course temporary. Struggles for highly rated US teams upon crossing the Atlantic have felt permanent. Zach Johnson and his class of 2023 are seeking to break the mould. If they do, not only will they have etched their names into golfing folklore but they will actually have boosted the competitive appeal of this event by altering the "home win, home win" sequence. Europe's record in the United States is hardly impressive, hence 2012 at Medinah stands out.
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