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Tommy Fleetwood sits at one end of the tribune Sunday night and addressed kisses to Francesco Molinari, who emerged with the help of Fleetwood as the leader of the victory of the Ryder Cup in Europe against the United States. Molinari, who sealed his 5-0 record with a 4-2 win over Phil Mickelson in the singles round, posed the question of becoming a folk hero after winning the British Open in July with his turn here.
Molinari, whose way of expressing his expression was mocked in a video of the competition preparation team, said that his usual poker face was statistically "a good chance to earn points".
Before he could continue, Fleetwood leaned into his microphone and said, "You're so arrogant. To surpass oneself. "
Led by Fleetwood, European players have all laughed a little, not just because Molinari is about as modest as the big winners. The group of players who won a 17½ to 10½ victory at Golf National seemed to really have fun with each other.
A connection established in a social media discussion group several weeks ago turned into a fellowship that Irish Rory McIlroy credited with the team's success. Because of their good agreement, he said, players could be mixed and matched as interchangeable parts in the four- and four-ball games, where they built a 10-6 lead in the first two games. days.
"It gave us a lot of options," McIlroy said.
And then there are the Americans.
There are a multitude of reasons why the United States lost their sixth straight Ryder Cup game in foreign soil, a series of trivia that emerged after the 1993 victory at the Belfry, when Bryson DeChambeau, the youngest member of the this year's team, had 10 days.
Of the four choices of captain Jim Furyk, only Tony Finau (2-1) finished with a record. The others – DeChambeau, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson – have lost all their games. The narrow fairways have favored the players who are directly on the tee, and six of the 12 Americans have been ranked in the last 50 of the PGA Tour statistics for their driving accuracy (where Henrik Stenson, from Europe, finished first).
In the end, the United States lost despite the star team parade of nine players who won major tournaments, for the same reason as ever: the Americans are not a group of brothers.
In 2014, after another loss on foreign soil, Phil Mickelson decried Tom Watson's leadership in the highway lane, leading to a committee-by-committee approach. But the more the Americans try to make a connection, a cohesion, the more they fail.
The fraternity that the American team was trying to create by tapping its team room with inspirational words like "Leave your ego at the door" did not take that time. And during the losing American press conference, the crack that existed from the beginning almost broke.
The last question in the post-mortem was addressed to Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed. They were questioned about not being matched despite the compilation of a 4-1-2 record in two previous Cups.
Like Molinari and Fleetwood, Spieth and Reed were sitting at opposite ends of the stage, but there was no frivolity – and certainly no kisses. Their eyes met and Spieth read something in Reed's expression that made him jump on the answer.
"We have been totally involved in every decision that has been made," Spieth said, adding, "Jim has allowed him to be a supportive environment for players."
Reed was sitting at the other end of the table, right next to Woods, with whom he had been paired in two defeats against Fleetwood and Molinari. Reed, who rebounded to win his single-handed match with Tyrrell Hatton, 3 and 2, exchanged veiled looks and buns with Woods at the press conference. As Spieth spoke, he was looking in front of him, sucking on the mints.
Furyk said the decision to separate Spieth and Reed had been his appeal. While Reed was silently watching, the press conference was over. In a phone interview less than an hour later, Reed expressed frustration with the way the pairs were treated.
He said he conveyed to Furyk his desire to be associated with Spieth, who is not a good friend but with whom he has a chemistry difficult to pin down, let alone a replica. Spieth was his first choice, said Reed. His second choice, he says, was Woods, whom he said he loved.
But Reed expected to be paired with Spieth, and he felt blind, he said, when Furyk decided to pair Spieth with Justin Thomas, who played with Rickie Fowler at the Presidents Cup. last year.
Spieth and Thomas have known each other since childhood and are very good friends, but Reed did not understand why it should have helped to separate two winning pairs (Spieth / Reed and Thomas / Fowler). Reed described the decision-making process as a "contact system" that ignores information from all but one of the players.
"The problem is obviously that Jordan does not want to play with me," said Reed, adding, "I have no problem with Jordan. In the end, I m not care if I like the person with whom I am twinned or if the person likes me as long as it works and the team succeeds. He and I know how to improve each other. We know how to do the job. "
Spieth and Thomas went 3-1 as a team (their only loss was 5 and 4 against Molinari and Fleetwood). Fowler went 1-2 playing with Dustin Johnson, the world's number 1.
Reed and Woods lost their first game against Fleetwood and Molinari, after which, Reed said, Woods apologized for letting him down. He said, "We win together as a team and we lose together as a team".
Reed was waiting for Furyk to polish the pairs after the first session. "I thought he could come back with the groups that have worked in the past," he said, pointing out that Europe captain, Thomas Bjorn, had sent McIlroy back into the lurch. afternoon after his loss to Thorbjorn Olesen. .
Instead, Reed was sitting in the afternoon just like Woods. The next morning, Reed played again with Woods, and again, they lost to Molinari and Fleetwood while Reed threw several balls in the water obstacles. Reed did not play the second session of the afternoon.
"For someone who is as successful at the Ryder Cup as I am, I do not think it's smart to sit down twice," Reed said.
Reed, who earned the nickname of Captain America for his fierce play in the 2014 and 2016 Ryder Cups, was the ninth game of his first Sunday match in singles. Unless the United States makes a furious comeback, the result will not remain on its shoulders. He played well, giving himself a birdie putt on every hole in the top nine. But it did not matter. Europe had won when he finished Hatton.
When Reed and Spieth were asked about their separation in the interview room, "I was looking at it as if I were about to light the room like Phil in 14," Reed said.
Reed thought of all the inspiring words he had read in the room reserved for the team. "Every day I saw" Leave your ego at the door, "said Reed. Referring to the Europeans, he added: "They do it better than us."
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