Europe retain Ryder Cup

12 April 2012

Europe won the Ryder Cup for an unprecedented third straight time at the K Club on Sunday.

Leading 10-6 overnight, Ian Woosnam's side easily collected the four-and-a-half points they needed to seal victory.

Colin Montgomerie, Paul Casey, David Howell and Luke Donald all won to ensure the trophy was retained, leaving Henrik Stenson to hole the winning putt against Vaughn Taylor.

Four years after performing the same role at The Belfry, Montgomerie was tasked with getting Woosnam's side off to the perfect start in the final day's singles. And Montgomerie, who holed the winning putt in beating Toms at Oakland Hills in 2004, duly delivered with a one-hole victory.

Stewart Cink had earlier put the first point on the board with a shock 4&3 win over the previously unbeaten Sergio Garcia.

Cink was in simply inspired form, making birdies at four of the first five holes and taking advantage of two bogeys from Garcia to be five up after just seven holes.

Garcia refused to give in and reduced his deficit to three holes at the 10th but Cink then birdied three of the next four as well, the last hole summing up the day. Garcia chipped in for birdie to seemingly keep the match alive, only for Cink to follow him in from 25 feet to seal a 4&3 victory.

Tiger Woods made it three points out of five for the week with a 3&2 victory over Robert Karlsson, and Furyk threatened to claim an improbable half against Casey with an eagle on the 16th.

Furyk also set up a birdie chance on 17 but Casey beat him to it from 25 feet to seal a 2&1 victory and put Europe 12-8 ahead. It was now simply a question of who would hole the winning putt, and it was a close-run affair.

David Howell fired his fourth birdie in a row to beat Brett Wetterich 5&4, and just five minutes later Luke Donald beat Chad Campbell 2&1 to ensure the trophy was retained. And just seconds later Swedish rookie Henrik Stenson holed the winning putt in beating Vaughn Taylor on the 15th green to spark massive celebrations.

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