GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy — What must have seemed like a long time to the Americans back then surely doesn’t now. They beat Europe on its home turf at The Belfry in 1993, winning the Ryder Cup back to back for the first time in a whopping 10 years.
Turns out that wasn’t the end of Europe’s run. It was only the start.
The Americans now have gone 30 years without winning the Ryder Cup away from home, a losing streak the entire team knows all too well. Never mind that five players on the U.S. team that arrived Monday in Italy were not even born when Team USA last won in Europe.
“It’s not really at the forefront of the messaging,” said U.S. captain Zach Johnson, who has played on three of those losing team in Ireland, Wales and Scotland. “The obvious bullet points don’t need to be mentioned, and that’s one of them.”
The context of this losing streak can be presented in so many ways. Half of Europe’s 12-man team wasn’t born when the American last celebrated away from home. Deane Beman was commissioner of the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods was a senior in high school.
And then there was this from NBC lead announcer Dan Hicks, noting that Raymond Floyd was the oldest player on that 1993 team at The Belfry.
“He’s now 81, and he hasn’t seen a U.S. team win overseas since then,” Hicks said.
United States’ Xander Schauffele attends a training in the practice range of the Marco Simone Golf Club in Guidonia Montecelio, Italy, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. The Marco Simone Club on the outskirts of Rome will host the 44th edition of The Ryder Cup, the biennial competition between Europe and the United States headed to Italy for the first time. Credit: AP/Andrew Medichini
It hasn’t been from a lack of ability. Those six consecutive road losses featured 12-man combinations of 41 players, 26 of whom went on to combine for 57 major championships.
The losing streak began in Spain in 1997, the year Tiger Woods won the Masters by 12 shots and captivated the entire sports world. Justin Leonard…
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