Kim kindles flame for America as Faldo’s game plan backfires

The week began with question marks over Nick Faldo's leadership and it ended with a giant query flashing high above the targeted scalp of the Europe captain. But there could be no doubting the joy of America as they came through a nerve-filled final day to win their first Ryder Cup in nine years. It said everything about the staggering reversal from the last two record romps that as Paul Azinger was being hailed as an inspiration, Faldo was being slammed for overseeing just the second Europe defeat in 13 years.

As soon as the singles match-ups were released there were raised eyebrows as to the Europe running order. With a 9-7 overnight deficit the visitors needed points and needed them quickly. Yet Faldo put what many considered to be his three premier performers out in the three last pairings. It meant that when Jim Furyk collected the final point needed for America to reach the 141/2 golden milestone, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington were left stranded out on the course, the results of their matches suddenly deemed irrelevant.

Faldo later admitted it was a gamble but declined to concede it was a pigheaded gamble. Curtis Strange was pilloried for making the same strategic error at the Belfry in 2002 and it seems inevitable Faldo will be, too.

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"It was one of my goals to leave here on Sunday night knowing I've done the best for my team and I'm more than comfortable how everything panned out," he said, seemingly aware of the flak to come. "We had it kind of planned. If we could just have got it down to the last four names we knew we'd be strong down the stretch. That was the risk we took. We maybe came up one guy short."

As it was Europe were eventually beaten by the humiliating scoreline of 161/2-111/2, although not too much should be read into the defeats of Westwood and Harrington as by the time their games against Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell reached the critical stage, they were suffering from the greatest feeling of anti-climax known to a professional golfer. Westwood was particularly down as he accused the crowd of "abusing him from start to finish". It was a sad end to a sad week for the Englishman and his complaint will surely be analysed by the authorities as they seek to perform the balancing act of keeping the delicious passion without the heckles.

That inquest will also doubtless suggest that Europe came up "one captain short". The exclusion of Westwood and Sergio Garcia from the Saturday foursomes will long be discussed as will some of the strange pairings. At least Faldo could point to his wild-card pick of Ian Poulter as one area in which he was wrongly criticised. The flamboyant Englishman surely established himself as a Europe stalwart for years to come with four points out of five. It meant he finished as the highest point-scorer of either team and obviously if any member of Faldo's side did not deserve to be among the losers it was Poulter. The manner in which he put away Steve Stricker yesterday was clinical from the word go. If only Faldo could say the same about the players who came to Louisville as supposedly the crack trio.

It is a remarkable statistic that Harrington, Westwood and Sergio Garcia could not manage to win a single match between them and that should be remembered when the knives are thrust into Faldo. And in the rush to condemn fans and the opposing captain, nothing should take away from the American achievement and that of Azinger. His side contained six rookies and was missing the best player in the world.

"Who needs Tiger Woods?" will never sound such a stupid statement again. "We just had a plan and we stuck to it," said Azinger. "We created a 13th man with the crowd and our players took an everything-to-gain attitude. These guys came together as a group and in the end it came down to putting and heart. Our players have a lot of heart."

So they do and thanks to them, the Ryder Cup felt like the Ryder Cup again here last night as the chants of "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole" bravely fought to be heard above those of "USA, USA, USA". The deafening toing and froing of that contest was only a taster of the excitement in the Valhalla valley to come. The blue and gold walkovers of Detroit in 2004 and Dublin two years ago were fantastically exhilarating from a European point of view but in terms of the biennial dust-up they threatened to strangle the event of its very life-force.

Final days of Ryder Cups are all about looking at the singles match-ups, marking down the way you envisage each one going and, with a sense of frenzied mathematical anticipation, adding up the scores accordingly. Different minds, with different pens, end up with different climaxes. Faldo's biro was, alas, off mark. He would certainly have not inked in such a embarrassment for Garcia, the swashbuckling Spaniard who was primed to lead the show off with all of his customary swagger against Anthony Kim. In a match containing plenty of needle, it is fair to say that Sergio was out-Sergioed by a younger rival who simply rolled him over in a 5 and 4 romp. The tone had been set, despite a slight rally.

When Robert Karlsson humbled Justin Leonard four and 3 and then 20 minutes later on the 16th green Justin Rose beat Phil Mickelson 3 and 2, Europe had made their early impression on the board. The latter's performance was particularly impressive as the Englishman capitalised on the world No 2's continued miserable Ryder Cup form although it was the events in the second match that were more representative of the tightness of the tussle out there.

Hunter Mahan's outrageous 40-footer on the 17th was greeted like a hole-in-one to win a major, but Paul Casey was to survive. Mahan was clearly overdosed on adrenalin and drove into the water on the 18th – half a point each way and it was all still in the offing. But then the Kentuckian Kenny Perry lowered Henrik Stenson 3 and 2 and then the new hero of America Boo Weekley did the same to Oliver Wilson and the Stars and Stripes were on their way to winning their first Ryder Cup since 1999 as their momentum built to an irresistible force.

When the other local boy JB Holmes won the 16th and 17th to beat Soren Hansen 2 and 1 that left Furyk, who was two up with two left, to secure the point for glory. The celebrations were inevitably to continue deep into the Kentucky night and Weekley was inevitably to be at their centre. Nobody has summed up their experience better than the Floridian redneck who acts so daft but plays so beautifully. As Boo partied, some grand statements were being made considering the Louisville legacy and none were as stark as that of Bernard Gallagher.

"This is as exciting as any Ryder Cup I have been to," said the former Europe captain. "Corporate America might not have supported the US team if they kept getting drubbed. You could say this is the week that saved the Ryder Cup."