Europe united in glory

A wonderful tradition of sporting rivalry reached new heights at Valderrama yesterday, when the home side overcame hostile weather and a fearsome American charge, to win the Ryder Cup. With the trophy held aloft in triumph for a fourth time in 12 years, an heroic effort had ensured that the rain in Spain fell mainly on celebrating Europeans. If Seve Ballesteros could cry copious tears as a losing player two years ago, what, we wondered would be the extent of his torrent as a victorious captain. As his players celebrated, however, there was not a sign of a tear from their emotional leader, only the visible strain of sleep deprivation in his face.

In such rather special circumstances, it seemed appropriate that a continental European should have been to the forefront of the victory effort. As it happened, the implement that secured possession of the trophy, if not the victory, would have appeared decidedly alien to old Samuel Ryder.

Bernhard Langer has rarely wielded his broom-handle putter to better effect than in hitting a six-footer sufficiently close to the 17th hole to force a concession from Brad Faxon. And, of course, it was the same implement, then in the hands of Philip Walton, which had brought the Ryder Cup into European hands at Oak Hill two years ago.

But the precious half-point that made the difference between getting there and doing it in style, came, almost predictably, from Colin Montgomerie. At Europe's time of need, their number one was there like an old soldier, standing at his post as the enemy launched their final, desperate assault.

It came in the person of Scott Hoch, who levelled with a splendid, pitch and putt birdie at the long 17th. That was in the 10th match, when all remaining options for either side, had been exhausted.

They went down the 18th level, but the pendulum swung dramatically in Europe's favour when Hoch pulled his drive into the left rough. And he was still in the left rough in two before eventually getting the ball to eight feet in three.

Meanwhile, at a hole which sets up awkwardly for the left to right flight that he favours, Montgomerie managed to get his drive into the middle of the fairway. And he was in the heart of the green in two. Then, after putting up dead, he conceded a halved match to Hoch, effectively giving him an eight-foot par putt.

Though the half-point was all Europe needed, the concession was a typically generous gesture from a player who dominated the weekend, both for his skill and durability. It allowed the Americans to point to the narrowest of defeats while giving their 41-yearold rookie a halved singles without the nervous strain of attempting such a difficult putt.

As had happened the previous morning, Europe held their end up admirably in the unfinished business of the foursomes. Granted, there was a certain inevitability about the defeat of Lee Westwood and Nick Faldo. Resuming at one down, they lost the short 15th where Jeff Maggert hit his tee shot to three feet and the match was over two holes later.

But there was an astonishing charge from Jose-Maria Olazabal and Costantino Rocca when they resumed at one up on the eighth tee. The Spanish-Italian partnership stunned even their colleagues by winning the eighth, ninth and 10th in birdie, par, par to be four up. And they completed a 5 and 4 victory with birdies at the 13th and 14th.

Then came the match that could maintain Europe's five-point advantage from the previous night. Out behind Olazabal and Rocca, the pairing of Jesper Parnevik and Ignacio Garrido also resumed on the eighth against Justin Leonard and Tiger Woods.

Eventually, the match hinged on the last two holes. At the 17th, the Europeans made a most improbable half in par when the Americans three-putted and Parnevik sank a most testing, six-foot downhill putt after Garrido had chipped from off the back.

Down the 18th, Leonard pulled his drive left of the kart-path, but Woods produced a wonderful recovery over trees to 14 feet - marginally inside the Europeans. And typical of the intensity of Ballesteros at this stage was the manner in which he instructed his players not to concede a putt of two and a half feet to Woods, which he holed anyway.

By that stage on this extraordinary weekend, it was almost time for the singles matches to start. Europe faced them with an advantage of 101/2 to 51/2 - the same, record lead that they had carried into the final day at Muirfield Village 10 years ago when they eventually won 15-13.

This time, however, the formation of the respective teams was decidedly different. Instead of keeping his strength at the tail as Jack Nicklaus had done on that occasion, Tom Kite went for points from the top, as most experienced captains would do.

Anticipating this, Ballesteros led off his singles with Ian Woosnam, who had been putting very indifferently. And he played the old hands in the bottom-half of the order. "Everyone wanted to play early but I decided to keep the experienced players towards the end where I would expect them to handle the pressure better."

The only true volunteer, in a selfless sense, was the splendid Garrido, who asked to be played in the anchor position where he was rewarded with a six-birdie hiding from Tom Lehman in a 7 and 6 defeat.

Out on the course, there were repeated explosions of ecstasy and it soon became apparent that not all of them had to do with European performances. In fact PerUlrik Johansson and Rocca seemed to be the only players capable of lifting European hearts at that stage while the Americans at last began to show the sort of putting for which they're famous.

Later in the day, however, as Europe scrambled desperately for points, there was an unlikely contribution from Denmark's Thomas Bjorn. Three down after five against Leonard, Bjorn was deprived of a famous victory over the British Open champion only by a wayward drive, which cost him the last.

Johansson, who had not played since his Friday morning fourball win with Parnevik, clearly got his driving sorted out. After turning one up against Davis Love, he lost the 10th where the American sank a 20-footer, but then went on to effectively wrap-up the match by winning 13th, 14th and 15th in par, birdie, par.

The first of these came when Love overshot the green and was forced to take a penalty drop; the next was the product of a nine-foot putt and he won the short 15th where Love missed the green with a three-iron. That did something to soften the shock to Europe of Woosnam's massacre against a resurgent Couples who carded an eagle and five birdies in 11 holes.

But the most remarkable victory was by Rocca, the player who had been vilified for missing a four-foot putt at the 17th at The Belfry in 1993, so handing a singles victory to Love. On this occasion, he was taking on US Masters champion Woods, widely acknowledged as the best player in the world.

Rocca's win was a magnificent achievement in that he carded two birdies and never dropped a stroke in the 16 holes he needed for a 4 and 2 margin. Woods had only one birdie, at the long 11th, which, added to the five birdies he carded in a total of 33 fourball holes, was a decidedly poor return for a player of his quality.

"I'm very disappointed," he said. "I felt the pressure increasing each day and even though I hit the ball well, I couldn't get any momentum going." Then he repeated: "The pressure was intense."

Indeed it was. But after withstanding a fierce onslaught, including a birdie-birdie finish from Lee Janzen for an improbable win over Olazabal, the Europeans found the necessary magic. And the cup remains in its spiritual home.