Furyk Victory Takes Ryder Cup Back to the United States

Nick Faldo gambled his reputation as a Ryder Cup captain yesterday and lost. The United States beat Europe at Valhalla golf club to secure the first American victory since 1999. It was a narrow victory but one that was enough to leave their captain Paul Azinger in tears, their supporters in ecstacy and their opponents regretting a strategy that left their strongest players unable to contribute to the cause.

Jim Furyk made a par on the 17th green to edge out Miguel Angel Jimenez and secure the 14 and a half points necessary. But perhaps the most decisive blow was struck in the European team room on Saturday night, when Faldo decided to place his strongest players - Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter - in the final four matches.

All four were still out on the golf course when the victory cheers rang out.

The inspirational figure of Anthony Kim, who handed Sergio Garcia the biggest beating of his Ryder Cup career, led the way although victories by Robert Karlsson, over Justin Leonard, and Justin Rose, over Phil Mickelson, pushed momentum towards Europe, and attention switched to the second match of the day, featuring Hunter Mahan and Paul Casey.

The quality of golf wasn't of the highest standard but that particular detail was of no concern to Mahan, who lost the first, won the second and then led all the way to the 16th green, where Casey rolled into a six-footer to draw level again. He strode to the 17th tee with the swagger of a man who believed he was destined for even better things. Reality teaches us some harsh lessons, and golfing reality teaches harder lessons than most. Alas for Casey, alas for Faldo, Mahan had no intention of disappearing quietly into the Kentucky afternoon, and rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the green to restore his advantage. He might have been Justin Leonard at Brookline in 1999, minus two stones, a bad shirt and plethora of badly behaved team-mates. It was brilliant, it was epic, it was the last thing in the world Europe needed right then.

Unfortunately, it started earlier than scheduled for some members of the European side, who were woken up by nuisance telephone calls. That was irritating enough, but as inconveniences go it had nothing on the inconvenience of turning up at the golf course to discover 12 opponents who had looked at America's recent record in the Ryder Cup singles - they had lost four of the last six sessions - and decided enough was enough.

No one appeared to be more offended