The USA had a real point to prove heading into the 2006 Ryder Cup at The K Club in County Kildare, with the visitors losing by a record margin on home soil two years earlier at Oakland Hills.
You would have had to have gone back to 1993 for the last time Europe had lost the Ryder Cup at home as the 2006 event approached. Ian Woosnam had been given the tough task of following on from Bernhard Langer, who had inspired his team to an 18.5-9.5 win stateside in 2004.
On the American side, meanwhile, Tom Lehman had been awarded the captaincy – in a decision which seemingly did not please everyone on the team. Tiger Woods made no secret of the fact that he felt that Mark O’Meara was the person the PGA of America should have turned to.
Having said that, Lehman could have hardly hoped for more firepower at the top of his lineup, with Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk ranked one, two and three in the world at the time. Woods and Mickelson also held three of the four majors.
Europe, on the other hand, were set to be inspired by the courage shown by one of Woosnam’s captain’s picks who suffered a devastating personal tragedy just weeks before the Ryder Cup.
Ian Woosnam’s captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup inspire Europe to an emotional victory at The K Club
Woosnam – a veteran of eight Ryder Cups – came in for criticism from Thomas Bjorn after overlooking the Dane. Bjorn labelled the Welshman ‘pathetic‘ after finding out that he had not been selected for the team by watching television.
Instead, Woosnam opted to pick Lee Westwood, who had won twice around The K Club previously.
His other pick was Darren Clarke.
Clarke had not played for several weeks before Woosnam selected him following the death of his wife, Heather in August.
It proved to be an inspired decision from the European captain.
Nearly two decades on, it is still impossible to watch Clarke and Westwood walk to the first tee ahead of their match with Mickelson and Chris DiMarco on Friday morning without tearing up. The Irish fans made sure Clarke was left in no doubt as to what he meant to them.
Europe win every session to dominate the Ryder Cup
How Clarke was able to even play that week is anyone’s guess. But any concerns about whether the occasion would get to the 38-year-old were put to bed as soon as he hit his opening tee shot so far he very nearly ran out of fairway.
Europe took a small lead into the afternoon foursomes session. Woods and Furyk had won their point in the top match. But victories for Sergio Garcia and José María Olazábal, and Clarke and Westwood helped the home side take a 2.5-1.5 lead.
The top three matches in the afternoon were halved. Woods had never gone unbeaten on the opening day of the Ryder Cup before. And that run continued as the 30-year-old and Furyk were beaten by Garcia and Luke Donald in the bottom match.
Europe finished the opening day 5-3 ahead.
Both Woosnam and Lehman changed up their order for Saturday morning, but the overall result was the same.
Garcia and Olazábal beat Mickelson and DiMarco. Meanwhile, Clarke and Westwood further justified their selections with an emotional victory over Woods and Furyk.
As the rain poured down, Clarke chipped in from behind the 16th green to win the point for Europe. The Northern Irishman nearly knocked his own partner off his feet in the celebration, while even Woods seemed pleased to see his opponent secure the victory.
History was made in the afternoon, with Paul Casey becoming the first player to close out a Ryder Cup match with a hole in one. Casey and David Howell beat Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson 5&4 in what was the largest winning margin over the first two days.
Tiger Woods able to see the funny side as Steve Williams loses his nine iron in bizarre circumstances
Suddenly, the USA needed a comeback to rival Brookline seven years earlier if they were going to get the chance to take the Samuel Ryder Trophy back across the Atlantic with them, with Europe leading 10-6 heading into the singles.
Colin Montgomerie led Europe out in what would prove to be his final Ryder Cup match. And he ensured that he would finish up unbeaten in singles matches as he edged David Toms 1 up.
Garcia was looking to become the first European to ever win five points out of five. However, Stewart Cink was able to get his first win of the week in his duel with the Spaniard. With three halved matches across the event, Cink ended up as USA’s second highest points scorer.
It was Tiger Woods who led the way for Lehman’s men, with his third point coming in a victory over rookie Robert Karlsson.
It was, however, Steve Williams who produced the most famous moment of that match when he managed to slip and drop Woods’ nine iron into the water hazard on the seventh hole as the world number one was preparing to hit a chip shot.
The only other American to win a full point on Sunday was Scott Verplank in the anchor match. Verplank made his own piece of history by becoming the first, and only, American to make a hole in one in the Ryder Cup on his way to a 4&3 triumph over Pádraig Harrington.
Almost the fairytale ending as Darren Clarke came agonisingly close to sealing the winning point
With Europe cruising to victory, the only question was which player would be the one to seal the decisive point.
There was a real chance that Darren Clarke would be the man to take Europe across the line as he closed out his match with Zach Johnson on the 16th hole.
However, it was Luke Donald who ensured that the cup would be remaining in Europe with his win over Chad Campbell, before Henrik Stenson’s victory over Vaughn Taylor sealed Woosnam’s men’s triumph.
Europe actually had a fantastic opportunity to set a new record for the largest winning margin, with J.J. Henry needing to hole a 25 foot putt on the final hole to avoid losing his match to Paul McGinley. However, McGinley decided to concede Henry’s putt after a spectator ran onto the green and jumped into the lake.
It meant that the final score was 18.5-9.5 in Europe’s favour for the second Ryder Cup running.
Picking Clarke and Westwood proved to be a masterstroke from Woosnam, with the two players going unbeaten. The Englishman’s victory over DiMarco on Sunday meant that he joined Garcia as the leading points scorer for the week.
And thankfully for Europe, Woosnam saved his one mistake all week for after all of the matches had concluded, with the victors emerging for the closing ceremony wearing salmon jackets and white turtlenecks.
But that did not take the shine off of an amazing week, with no one on either side having any problem at all with Darren Clarke being the one to steal the show.
As Woosnam would tell Golfing World in 2016 when reflecting on the moment Clarke won his third and final point: “With all the crowds around, it was destiny. Brilliant.
“2006, the Ryder Cup was all about Darren Clarke and the European team – and saying goodbye to Heather Clarke really.”