Scottie Scheffler and the USA had a Ryder Cup to forget at Bethpage Black, where they lost 15-13 to Europe.
Scheffler beat Rory McIlroy in their Sunday singles match, playing his role in a superb fightback from the USA on the final day.
But it ultimately proved inconsequential as Europe held on to not only retain the Ryder Cup, but win it at Bethpage Black.
Scheffler claimed his only point in his singles meeting with his old nemesis McIlroy, despite playing five times in total in New York.
Luke Donald called Scheffler a “champion” after he failed to win a point from his first four matches, having unsurprisingly been heavily relied upon by Keegan Bradley.
Disagreement over what grade Scottie Scheffler deserves for his Ryder Cup display
Despite a stunning season that included winning two major championships, the world number one ended his week with a disastrous 1-4-0 record.
His efforts have now been graded on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav, with Ryan Lavner saying: “I gave him a C- after going one and four.
“He was the third-best US player through two days but it wasn’t good enough. His opponents went berserk against him. 34 birdies in 65 holes.
“They met the moment but Scottie Scheffler did not. He called it one of the lowest moments of his career.
“His teammates picked him up and he ended up salvaging his week with a pillow fight victory over Rory McIlroy.”
And Rex Hoggard commented: “You gave the world number one a C- and he won just one point out of five opportunities?
“That is some kind stuff right there. I think the Sunday singles salvaged the week for him but I gave him a D.”
What were Scottie Scheffler’s results at the Ryder Cup?
Playing in a Ryder Cup is, of course, very different to playing an individual tournament, where Scheffler is usually an extremely formidable opponent.
But he was quite the opposite at Bethpage Black, where even playing in a team he would have expected to claim a lot more points for the USA.
His early struggles epitomised the home side’s nightmare start to the Ryder Cup, with Scheffler remarkably failing to win a point from two foursomes and two four-ball ties.
| Points | Matches | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Four-balls |
| 1 | 5 | 1–4–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–2–0 |
Scheffler and Russell Henley lost 5&3 to Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick in the first foursome session, before a 3&2 loss to Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka in his Saturday four-ball with J.J. Spaun.
The same format was played on Saturday, with Scheffler and Henley losing by one to Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland, before he and Bryson DeChambeau fell 3&2 to Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose.
Scheffler did, however, manage to edge out his fellow PGA Tour star McIlroy in the singles, beating the European hero by one.
Their meeting had the potential to be an all-time Ryder Cup clash, but their busy week undoubtedly caught up with them by the time it arrived.
Both players fell well short of their world-class efforts elsewhere this season, but McIlroy did arguably claim the overall bragging rights after clinching 3.5 points, which were key to Europe’s success.
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