European dominance at the Ryder Cup is turning into an established tradition that\u2019s making people wonder whether the Americans will truly ever steal their prior glory back.<\/p>\n
The 2014 Ryder Cup held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland was no exception, with European supremacy taking hold early on and never looking back over the course of the three-day weekend.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Ryder Cup victory for Team Europe \u2013 helmed by Captain Paul McGinley \u2013 marked the 8th<\/sup> win over the last 10 Ryder Cups for the European team, and was the culmination of some brilliant play among the European team members. The United States wasn\u2019t completely absent, however, with the youngest players making this year\u2019s Ryder Cup team drawing some much-deserved attention from their performances overseas.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at the players that grabbed the 2014 Ryder Cup spotlight.<\/p>\n Team Europe<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s a reason why many speculators were calling for a Team Europe Ryder Cup win long before the tournament was held.\u00a0 With four of the six best golfers in the world playing for the Europeans \u2013 including the likes of top golfer Rory McIlroy<\/a> and the No. 3 ranked Sergio Garcia \u2013 this team had a lot of talent under its belt going into the matches.<\/p>\n Rory McIlroy was especially impressive during his third day outing, blazing by the USA\u2019s Rickie Fowler<\/a> by hitting birdie on the first hole of the Sunday singles and staying on top throughout the match, leading his team to win the first point for Europe on Sunday.<\/p>\n No question that Rory and company were riding Friday\u2019s momentum set by Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, two close friends and colleagues that together tacked two points onto the European board after Friday\u2019s alternate shot competition, comprising an impressive share of Team Europe\u2019s 5-3 lead after round one.<\/p>\n Their performance solidified McGinley\u2019s pairing choices for the weekend event, as the Team Europe Captain had previously stated that, \u201cThese two guys are together for a particular reason.\u00a0 It’s based on my understanding of them as people as well as golfers.”<\/p>\n Another Ryder Cup star native to the European continent was Germany\u2019s own Martin Kaymer. On the last day of the tournament, he chipped in his TaylorMade golf ball<\/a> for a match-ending eagle on the 16th during day three’s competition, capturing the attention of commentators, fans and golf pros around the world. His competitor, the formidable Bubba Watson, was left in the dust.<\/p>\n No article would be complete without referencing Jamie Donaldson, the 38-year-old Welshman who claimed the final point of the 2014 Ryder Cup for Team Europe. He put the final nail in the Americans\u2019 coffin with a brilliant wedge shot from 146 yards to within a foot of the 15th<\/sup> hole during Sunday\u2019s round.<\/p>\n When asked by a reporter the following morning if he had digested the news yet that he had claimed the winning point for the Ryder Cup, Donaldson honestly replied, \u201cNo.\u00a0 Because I\u2019m still drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n Team USA<\/strong><\/p>\n While we know the European team had a lot to celebrate \u2013 and celebrate they did \u2013 after Sunday\u2019s Ryder Cup victory, Team USA did have some highlights of their own, particularly among some of the youngest golfers to make the team.<\/p>\n Several people must\u2019ve been wondering over the weekend whether or not Patrick Reed knew that the USA was fighting an uphill battle.\u00a0 The 24-year-old Ryder Cup rookie never signaled defeat over the course of the tournament, going 3-0-1 for the week while taking down Henrik Stenson and his Callaway clubs<\/a> during Sunday\u2019s match.<\/p>\n Definitely Team USA\u2019s standout player, Reed made a name for himself as a competitive golfer with a sense of resolve and determination that will undoubtedly move his career further into the limelight in the years to come.<\/p>\n Reed\u2019s name is also being used synonymously with 21-year-old Jordan Spieth\u2019s \u2013 the youngest half of the Reed\/Spieth pairing that posted 2 \u00bd points out of 3 during the first two days of play.<\/p>\n With so many young players stealing the spotlight during the 2014 Ryder Cup, it\u2019s encouraging to know that the future of biennial competition appears to be in good hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" European dominance at the Ryder Cup is turning into an established tradition that\u2019s making people wonder whether the Americans will truly ever steal their prior glory back. The 2014 Ryder Cup held at the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,4],"tags":[57,77,100,58],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-news","tag-2014-ryder-cup","tag-ryder-cup","tag-ryder-cup-team-europe","tag-ryder-cup-team-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4522,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions\/4522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}