Ryder Cup Grade Report
9/20/2004Blade sports writer Dave Hackenberg gives out his final grades on the Ryder Cup matches.
Colin Montgomerie - A-plus: Inspirational leader. He birdied the first hole of the first match on Friday morning and the Euros never trailed thereafter.
Sergio Garcia - A: Key early win over Phil Mickelson set tone for a singles rout. He finished 4-0-1.
Lee Westwood - A: Tied Garcia with team-high 4 1/2 points and won the singles match that iced things.
Padraig Harrington - A-minus: Minus? Well, he did lose a four-ball match. And he had a double bogey. We're nit-picking.
Darren Clarke - B-plus: Won two of last three holes to steal one-half point from Davis Love, blunting U.S. singles bid.
Paul McGinley - B: This is one tough Irishman who should be a Ryder Cup factor for years to come.
Luke Donald - B-minus: Rookie scored 2 1/2 points, despite being thumped in yesterday's singles.
Paul Casey - C-plus: Rookie had a huge four-ball win and at least competed against Tiger Woods yesterday.
David Howell - C: Teamed with Casey for key point, but was schooled by Jim Furyk in singles.
Ian Poulter - C: Split only two matches, with a strong finish in singles win over Chris Riley.
Thomas Levet - C-minus: Give Frenchman credit; after playing poorly in two matches, rebounded yesterday.
Miguel Angel Jimenez - D-plus: Only Euro player with three losses, but he always had good hair days.
Captain Bernhard Langer - A: His team handed U.S. its worst loss ever, home or away. Enough said.
Chris DiMarco - B-minus: Showed a lot of fire, at times, and led U.S. team with 2 1/2 points.
Tiger Woods - C-plus: Played hard, if not well, and led off singles bid with decisive victory.
Stewart Cink - C: One of the few bright spots in partners play with a win and a tie.
Chris Riley - C: The rookie finished 1-1-1, which is about as average as you can be.
Jay Haas - C-minus: Teamed with DiMarco for only U.S. win on Friday and dug deep to extend Harrington to last hole yesterday.
Kenny Perry - C-minus: Was little used, but played his guts out in losses to two of Europe's studs, Garcia and Westwood.
Davis Love - D-plus: Let a singles win get away by losing two of the last three holes yesterday.
Chad Campbell - D-plus: Easy win yesterday didn't erase some poor putting efforts previous two days.
Jim Furyk - D: He romped to singles win, but veteran had to produce more than a single point.
David Toms - D: Only went 1-2, but you have to wonder why he didn't play more often.
Phil Mickelson - F: Flopped in two partners matches with Woods, lost singles match to Garcia, created more controversy than points.
Fred Funk - F: Nice guy, wanted so badly to be here, but it figured he would be weakest link. Went 0-3.
Captain Hal Sutton - D: Didn't hit a bad shot all week, but most of his decisions turned out badly. U.S. suffered worst-ever loss.