Ryder Cup -- Sunday (5:52 PM BST)

Well, the Ryder Cup has been lost, as the U.S. team was thrashed by the score of 5 1/2 to 1/2 in the final bloc of team matches.

This should not be regarded as a collapse, however. Unless you think it's a collapse any time that a superior team comes out in the second half and crushes an inferior opponent that took an early lead. As I said, I don't think Tiger should have been playing alternate shot. I don't think Mickelson and Dustin Johnson should have been split up in a manner that turned one bad team into two bad teams. And I think the rain delays hurt the U.S. team because it forced us to play all 12 of our guys in the team matches, and our team just isn't as deep as the European team.

But having said all of that, the current score (9 1/2 to 6 1/2) is about where I thought we would be at this point even before the matches were played, so the real story here is not that the Americans fell apart, but that when a superior European team started taking the competition more seriously, the Americans simply had no response.

Alternate shot:
Donald/Westwood (EUR) 6&5 Stricker/Woods (USA)
McIlroy/McDowell (EUR) 3&1 Z. Johnson/Mahan (USA)

Best ball:
Harrington/Fisher (EUR) 2&1 Furyk/D. Johnson (USA)
Hanson/Jimenez (EUR) 2 UP Watson/Overton (USA)
E. Molinari/F. Molinari (EUR) Halved Cink/Kuchar (USA)
Poulter/Kaymer (EUR) 2&1 Mickelson/Fowler (USA)

Europe 9 1/2 - 6 1/2 United States