The Norwegian Viktor Hovland and the Swede Ludvig Aberg signed, on Saturday, in Rome, the largest victory in the history of the Ryder Cup, against the Americans Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, confirming Europe’s control over this 44th edition , which began on Friday and is due to end on Sunday.
Hovland, 26, and Aberg, 23, won 9 and 7, leading by nine points with only seven holes remaining, a maximum of seven points to win. Their game therefore stopped after hole number 11.
The Swede Ludvig Aberg has already made Ryder Cup history by being selected for the European team just a few weeks after turning professional, a precocity never seen before. “If someone had told me just a few months ago that I would be here playing the Ryder Cup, I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s a dream come true,” he admitted, still in disbelief, at a press conference on Tuesday. The Swede is a phenomenon, “a talent like one found in every generation,” even assured the captain of the European team, Luke Donald.
A blow to morale for the Americans
On Friday, during the first day of competition, American ambitions to win for the first time since 1993 outside the United States were already in decline. Europe, encouraged by tens of thousands of excited British, Scandinavian and Austrian spectators, took off on the course and led by five points (6.5 to 1.5) before the last two days, Saturday and Sunday .
Europe had already knocked out. the United States from the morning session, concluded with a score of 4 to 0, unprecedented in the history of the Ryder Cup for a European team. The Americans, winners (19-9) of the previous edition, in 2021, in Wisconsin, then took a morale blow. “It’s not the first day we were hoping for. (…) We will try to get some sleep and re-energize ourselves to try to win as many points as possible on Saturday,” admitted Justin Thomas.
On Saturday, at noon, Europe led 9.5 to 2.5 against the United States. The first team to reach 14.5 points will win the trophy.