United States reclaim the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits

The United States have reclaimed the Ryder Cup after storming to a convincing 19-9 victory over Europe at Whistling Straits.

The winning margin surpasses the 18½-9½ wins achieved by the United States in 1981 and Europe in 2004 and 2006 since continental Europe entered the Ryder Cup in 1979.

Heading into Sunday's singles matched 11-5 down, Europe knew they needed to pull off a record comeback to successfully defend the Ryder Cup.

Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy got Europe's first point on the board with a 3 & 2 win over Xander Schauffele in the opening match, but the scoreboard did not make good reading for Padraig Harrington's side, with a sea of red showing it was only a matter of time before an American victory was secured.

Patrick Cantlay beat an inspired Shane Lowry 4 & 2, Scottie Scheffler downed in-form Jon Rahm 4 & 3 and Bryson DeChambeau defeated Sergio Garcia 3 & 2 to put the United States on the brink, and it was Collin Morikawa who sealed victory.

The Open Champion earned half a point in a tightly contested contest against Viktor Hovland, with the winning putt coming on the 18th to ensure their match finished all square. 

There European wins for Ian Poulter who beat Tony Finau 3 &2 in what might be his last Ryder Cup match, while Lee Westwood defeated Harris English 1 Up, with Tommy Fleetwood securing a half against Jordan Spieth for Europe as the Americans won the final session 8-4.

Speaking after his win, Poulter said: "It's difficult. When you have played Friday, Saturday, you got nothing out of your matches - today was playing with a bit of pride and making sure you put something on the board.

"It's a heavy defeat. It's not good. But you know, just to put something on the board is quite nice."

Westwood, who was playing in a record breaking 47th match in his record equalling 11th Ryder Cup for Europe, added: "The week in general, I think slightly outplayed and definitely out-putted."

"I think it's probably right up there with the most cohesive team I've played on. Pádraig pretty much did everything right.

"They had a slightly more talented team on a bit of form and executed shots when they needed to and because I played foursomes, I watched a lot of golf in the afternoons on the TV. They definitely holed more putts than us and that's what the Ryder Cup is all about. When we win, we hole more putts than them.

In the other singles matches, Dustin Johnson beat Paul Casey 1 Up, Brooks Koepka downed Bernd Wiesberger 2 &1, Justin Thomas defeated Tyrrell Hatton 4 & 3 and Matt Fitzpatrick lost 1 Up to Daniel Berger.

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