By Ben Jenkins, Staff Writer

The 2025 Ryder Cup marks yet another disappointing performance from the Americans. 

Team Europe secured a 15-13 win in dramatic fashion on Sunday. Europe has now won seven of the last 10 Cups and this loss at home for the Americans likely stings for some fans.

Europe came out hot to start the tournament, winning three of the four foursomes Friday morning. The story of the morning was current world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler struggling. Scheffler and Russell Henley were crushed by the pairing of Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick winning, ending the match by the 15th hole. 

In the afternoon four-ball matches the Europeans continued their dominance, securing two and a half points to take a 5.5 to a 2.5 lead into Saturday. Scottie Scheffler once again lost his match, going 0-2 on the day, a shocking start to the tournament for the superstar. 

Saturday was more of the same for the Europeans. They cruised to three more points in the foursome matches and yet again Scheffler’s team fell, losing to Robert Macintyre and Viktor Hovland.  

The Saturday four-ball matches were headlined by Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose playing some of the best golf in Ryder Cup history. Matched up against Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, the European duo put on a show. Rose was fantastic all day. It was marked by walking in an unbelievable 21-foot putt on 11.  

The emotions of this star-studded match boiled over on the 15th green. DeChambeau’s caddy walked in Rose’s line before his putt, which sparked a heated exchange between all members of the group. Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, had to be separated from European Vice Captain Francesco Molinari and Fleetwood and DeCambeau shared a few choice words. 

Heading into Sunday the Americans needed a miracle. Europe needed to win just two of the 12 matches to retain the cup. The day started in controversial fashion, when Hovland dropped out due to injury the rules state that if a player drops out the points of the match are split, thereby granting the Europeans a free half point. With the U.S. needing all the points they could get this was not how they envisioned the day starting. 

But the Americans would not go down without a fight. Ryder Cup rookie Cam Young took down the red-hot Justin Rose with a 10-foot birdie putt on hole 18. Just minutes later, Justin Thomas knocked down a birdie of his own on hole 18 to close out Fleetwood.  

Following just behind those two groups was DeChambeau and Fitzpatrick. DeChambeau started the day about as bad as he could. He went down five through seven holes and almost all hope was lost. 

DeChambeau won the next two holes to cut the lead to three heading into the back nine. He then rattled off four straight birdies on holes 12-16 to tie the match. They both parred hole 18 and the U.S. secured an all important half-point. This fired up the home crowd and a real sense of belief started to grow for the Americans. 

“Seeing a passionate guy like Bryson pull off a comeback like that really made me believe we could win, and you could definitely see the belief spread throughout the crowd and players,” first-year Economics and Sport Management major Jacob Halbesma said. 

Scottie Schefler finally got his first win of the weekend beating Europe’s star Rory McIlroy by one in an epic match between the two best players on the planet. The next match saw Ludvig Aberg beat Patrick Cantlay and now Europe was just half a point away from retaining the Ryder Cup. 

The Americans kept battling, J.J Spaun and Xander Schauffele both won their matches. The belief kept growing as Russell Henley went into hole 18 one-up on Shane Lowry. But in the end Lowry and Europe broke every American’s heart. Lowry birdied to tie the match; the half point was all the Europeans needed.     Sunday was almost one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. There were many great moments for the U.S. but it marked the end to another chapter of European golf dominance. A Ryder Cup loss at home as the heavy favorite is a difficult pill to swallow for the U.S. Some real changes need to be made if they want a shot to knock off Europe in Rome in 2027.