It was an emotional Ryder Cup that saw Europe come out to a commanding lead after Day 1. The USA tried hard to fight back, but every time they got anything going Europe had the answer. Team USA came out with a new fire in the Saturday afternoon session and things started to get contentious with the crowd. A story surfaced that Patrick Cantlay was not wearing a hat because “why should I wear a hat if I’m not getting paid for it” as a form of protest against players not getting paid for playing in the Ryder Cup. The entire Team USA camp denied it, but pictures started to surface showing Patrick Cantlay supposedly being isolated in the Team USA locker room. Many on Team USA responded strongly by waving hats back at the crowd after Cantlay drains 3 consecutive long putts on 16, 17, and 18 to win his match going away. On the 18th hole, Cantlay’s caddie was waving his hat practically in the face of Rory McIlroy who rightfully took offense. The caddy and Shane Lowry got into a shouting match and later in the parking lot Shane Lowry had to hold Rory McIlroy back from Bones McKay still upset about what happened on the 18th green.

By the time the telecast started on Sunday reports from Team USA camp were that the two spoke that morning and smoothed things over. After his match, Rory McIlroy said those reports were not true and they never met. Team USA held on to make things interesting when Max Homa drained a big putt on 18 after having hitting it into the water and having to take an unplayable lie in the last 2 of 3 holes. It looked like it was going to come down to Thomas and Spieth next, but it was Rickie Fowler who couldn’t risk people forgetting he is quite possibly one of the worst in the world under pressure. He hits his tee shot into the water giving Europe 2 putts to win the Ryder Cup. As if that wasn’t bad enough he went on to concede the Ryder Cup to Europe on a 3 foot putt and then lose his final hole for good measure.

An emotion Luke Donald gives one of the best golf speeches I’ve ever heard on the 16th green after that concession and Zach Johnson, who had a horrible performance compared to Donald’s master class, followed it by getting emotional about how strongly he respects Luke Donald. Despite early on looking like it could be a boring runaway, this Ryder Cup delivered with some emotional story lines. I’ll star by catching up and grading the rest of my bets so I can get a final total for the tournament. Then I will go through each player and compare my original handicap to how they actually performed.

I’m going to start a big task of compiling my own World Golf Rankings, and getting into golf handicapping after this so I’m going to start following emotional and mental profiles of these players. When betting golfers it is really important to keep track of how they handle pressure situations. It really does always seem to be the same guys crumbling and preforming well.

Sunday Singles Bets – Graded:

Justin Rose Tie No Bet +146 – Lost $100

Sam Burns Tie No Bet +166 – Lost $100

Brian Harman Tie No Bet +110 – Lost $100

Brooks Koepka Tie No Bet -110 – Won $100

Justin Thomas Tie No Bet -120 – Won $100

Nicolai Hojagaard Tie No Bet +145 – Lost $100

Shane Lowry Tie No Bet -110 – Push

Fleetwood/Fowler Tie +650 – Lost $100

Robert Macintyre Tie No Bet +145 – Won $145

Brooks Koepka to go 4 Up at any point +380 – Lost $100 – This is a lesson in being greedy. I could have gotten up 3 at any point, but the price was low. Koepka was up 3 three differen times.

Shane Lowry to go 4 Up at any point +380 – Lost $100

Other Wagers left to be graded:

Team USA -1 Day 3 +250 – Lost $100

Europe +100 – Won $100

Europe by 1-3 points +300 – Lost $100

USA by 1-3 points +380 – Lost $100

Rory McIlroy Top Point Scorer +900 – Won $900

Justin Rose Top Captains Pick Europe +380 – Lost $100

Ludvig Aberg Top Captains Pick Europe +430 – Lost $100

Collin Morikawa Top Captains Pick Overall +550 – Lost $100

Collin Moirkawa top Captains Pick USA +340 – Lost $100

Ludvig Aberg Top Captains Pick Overall +900 – Lost $100

Brian Harmon +500 Top Rookie USA+500 – Lost $100

Brian Harmon +1000 Top Rookie Overall – Lost $100

Rahm & Cantlay Top Scorer Parlay +3300 – Lost $100

Viktor Hovland Top Continental Europe Player+190 – Won $190

Justin Rose Top English Points Scorer +350 – Lost $100

John Rahm to win 3 or more points +135 – Won $135

2+ Tied Matches in the Singles +110 – Won $110

Rickie Fowler +800 to score 0 points – Won $800 – My favorite bet of the tournament I think LOL, In historic fashion.

Total Combined Ryder Cup Profit:

Risked $5,763 / Lost $70

Player By Player Analysis:

Team Europe:

Rory McIlroy – I had high hopes for the leader of team Europe and he delivered. Top Point Scorer with 4.5/5 points.

Viktor Hovland – He was just as big for team Europe as Rory was. A new confidence in his short game could make him unstopable.

Jon Rahm – He was the third leg of the immovable stool for Team Europe. He is a bully on the golf course and even though he couldn’t close out Scottie in the end, he made his presence known in Rome and is always an important locker room guy for the team with how much he loves this game and this tournament.

Tommy Fleetwood – I wrote that the market values him more highly than I do. He may have benefited from playing two matches with Rory McIlroy and one against Rickie Fowler, but he did manage 2.5 points for Europe. I don’t think I was necessarily wrong in my handicap of him in this case.

Tyrell Hatton – I liked him before the tournament and he delivered. In this format he should always be considered. He can get hard on himself if he runs bad, but in this tournament he always seemed to bounce back quickly. His passion for the Ryder Cup is unmatched.

Matthew Fitzpatrick – I missed on him. I didn’t see any value on him, but I will from now on. He made some unbelievable putts and went on an Ian Poulter-like run playing with Rory McIlroy on Friday afternoon. He had a great Ryder Cup and is playing with a lot of confidence.

Justin Rose – I really liked him before the tournament and he delivered. He is a veteran at the Ryder Cup and still shows up big on this stage. He had some tough matchups or would have come away with more points. His stats didn’t do justice how well he played.

Ludvig Aberg – I was ready to buy into the hype and I wouldn’t say that he completely let us down. He didn’t dominate hte tournament or have a huge coming out party, but at no point did he look out of place. He had some big rounds including a historic take down of Scheffler and Koepka 9&7 Playing with Viktor Hovland. He went one on one with bully Brooks Koepka on Sunday and while ultimately losing, he showed life and landed some punches late. He is going to have a good career for sure.

Shane Lowry – The handicap was right. He didn’t have the game, but he loves the format. His bark was worse than his bite, but he is going to have one hell of a career coaching Ryder Cups.

Sepp Straka – He didn’t play badly, but he doesn’t seem right for this format. He is too quiet and steady and doesn’t seem to feed off of the emotion. Felt out of place.

Nicolai Hojagaard – He was the only European not to win a match, but he played better than that statistic makes it sound. He is a great driver of the golf ball and isn’t out of place in these big moments. But, he did seem to struggle when he was left on his own. He seems best suited for Best-Ball Formats with his length off the tee.

Robert MacIntyre – He performed better than I expected, but he did have some nervey moments down the stretch. I didn’t miss out on anything with him.

Team USA:

Scottie Scheffler – This may be a career defining tournament for him and not in a good way. He was paired with Koepka and was given a historic beat down by Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg who had never even played in a major before. He salvaged a tie in the singles match against Jon Rahm, but he started off so badly with the putter that he basically gave away the full point. I didn’t expect him to really be what Team USA needed him to be, but it was sad to see him let himself down like this. Hopefully he can bounce back.

Patrick Cantlay – He did not play well in his team events with Xander like he usually does. However, he showed up down the stretch after the crowd started getting on him. He followed that up with a win on Sunday in his singles match and showed some serious guts in earning those two points. Given the adversity he faced, he had a great tournament.

Xander Schauffele – He carried Cantlay at times, but was benched and didn’t score a point until the final day. But, that is uncharacteristic of him. The most surprising thing for me in this tournament was how poorly Xander and Cantlay played with each other after so much experience.

Brooks Koepka – I was shocked he didn’t go out in the first round of play. He never really got going out of that. It is hard to wonder how things may have gone differently, but the truth is that he was part of the worst defeat in Ryder Cup history losing 9&7 with Scottie Scheffler against Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg who never even played in a major. Brooks got revenge on Aberg at lest on Sunday, but he still didn’t really put him away down the stretch. It wouldn’t surprise me if a factor was that Brooks struggled to blend with the rest of his team with all of the tension surrounding his decision to move to LIV golf, etc. I’m surprised he didn’t play better here, but maybe I shouldn’t be.

Collin Morikawa – I liked him before the tournament. He got some tough matchups and playing partners at times but never played badly. I will say though he missed a lot of short putts when the macros were on the line. I think he had a few big putts to close out or extend matches and he missed a lot of them.

Max Homa – I said I could see him collapsing or being Captain America. He was much closer to the later. He has now been the MVP for Team USA in the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup. He wasn’t perfect – like when he put his ball in the water AFTER Fitzpatrick put his in the water on 16. However, when the tournament was on the line he had the guts to take an unplayable, get up and down for par, and drain that 10 footer with everything on the line despite telling his caddy right after that his “knees were shaking.” He seems to be getting more and more confidence in his game and I expect him to continue to see good results on the PGA tour and major championships.

Jordan Spieth – I didn’t have much to say about him except that I feared his pairings iwth Justin Thomas would hurt his value. But in reality he was the one that struggled in these pairings and JT had to carry him. At some points in this tournament it looked like he forgot how to even hit the golf ball. He even gave away a big lead to lowry in Sunday singles. It was a really bad tournament for him.

Justin Thomas – He was under more pressure than anyone in this tournament selected as a captains pick when his game was completely and utterly lost. He showed some serious guts here and I was so happy to see him respond under this immense pressure. He carried Jordan Spieth on his shoulders and was the first to come to the defense of Patrick Cantlay. I would love to see this tournament spark a comeback for him. He deserves it more than anyone. I was right to be hesitant in backing him, but I was glad to see him prove me wrong.

Rickie Fowler – My favorite bet of the tournament was him to score zero points. I couldn’t think of a worse person to have to depend on down the stretch. He proved it by first giving Europe the tournament by hitting it in the water, then giving them the tournament by conceding the Ryder Cup winning putt from at least 3 feet if not more. And for good measure, he lost the last hole. I hope all of the hype about him coming back finally stops. His career deserves to be over after this Ryder Cup.

Sam Burns – He may be my most underrated guy coming into this tournament. I didn’t think the spot would be right for him, but he proved me wrong by playing really well. He seemed to buy-in to the importance of the tournament and was having fun playing into the pressure of the crowd. I think Zach Johnson made a mistake using him in the Foursomes instead of Four-Balls. With that adjustment he could be even more valuable next year.

Wyndham Clark – I didn’t see any value in him before the tournament. He didn’t play horribly, but was basically a non-factor.

Brian Harman – I heard coming in that he would thrive in these formats and I saw some truth to that. He ran into a buzz saw in Tyrell Hatton in his singles match, but he teamed up with Homa and played very well in the team events.