It was not to be back-to-back Irish winning captaincies as Darren Clarke’s Europe were defeated by the might of USA 17-11 in the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine.

The superiority of the American players showed in the end. The US average ranking was 16, the Europe’s average ranking was 28. In that, world number 12 Paul Casey and world number 19 Russell Knox may have made a difference instead of world number 46 Lee Westwood and world number 48 Martin Kaymer, although Casey’s decision to skip the European Tour was out of Clarke’s hands.

In the end, it was hard to see where Europe could have won this Ryder Cup given the quality of the American play. The captaincy of Davis Love III, who got redemption for Medinah, was spot on. He may have lost in 2012 but his team lead 10-6 after the team matches, arguably the most important part of the captaincy, and only the brilliance of Poulter, Rose etc denied him in Chicago.