Six HotelPlanner Tour alumni played a significant role as Team Europe won the Ryder Cup in America for the first time in 13 years.
Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose, Bob MacIntyre, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rasmus Højgaard all starred for the European team that held off a stirring comeback from the USA on the final day to eventually triumph 13-15.
FedExCup champion Fleetwood ended the week as Europe’s leading point scorer having won all four of his matches across Friday and Saturday at Bethpage Black. The Englishman, who graduated in 2011 as the HotelPlanner Tour’s Number One, has now represented Europe in four Ryder Cups, with his record of 7–3–2 giving him the highest winning percentage among European players with at least ten matches played.
Two of Fleetwood’s points came alongside 2013 U.S. Open winner and 1999 HotelPlanner Tour alumni Rose, who was in inspired form in both fourball matches. The duo combined to best Ben Griffin and Bryson DeChambeau 1up on Friday, before Rose producing a putting clinic on Saturday as they saw off World Number One Scottie Scheffler and DeChambeau 3&2.
MacIntyre made an unbeaten start to his Ryder Cup career two years ago in Rome, and continued to impress in New York, picking up a crucial one and a half points in his three matches. Firstly, alongside Norwegian Viktor Hovland, he triumphed 1up against Scheffler and Russell Henley in Saturday foursomes, before he took half a point from his Sunday singles match against Sam Burns.
Højgaard was the only rookie in the European team, and despite not picking up a point, he impressed in his two outings and took the in-form Ben Griffin to the final hole on Sunday, narrowly missing out 1down.
Englishman Fitzpatrick, who played nine times on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2014 and has gone on to become a Major Championship winner, picked up two and a half points from his four outings at Bethpage. A 5&3 win alongside Ludvig Åberg on Friday saw him pick up his first point in foursomes matches in his three Ryder Cups to date. He then went on to win in fourballs on Sunday with Hovland before picking up an important half point on Sunday against DeChambeau.
Hatton graduated from the HotelPlanner Tour in 2013 and had a week to remember Stateside, going unbeaten in his three matches. His formidable foursomes pairing with Jon Rahm was on full display again, as the duo picked up where they left off in Rome, winning 4&3 and 3&2 on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, with the American team on the charge, Shane Lowry secured a half point that retained the Ryder Cup for Europe, and moments later it came down to Hatton to pick up another half point that ensured Team Europe won the Ryder Cup outright.
In total, HotelPlanner Tour alumni were directly involved in 10.5 of the 15 points Team Europe secured on their way to a history-making win at Bethpage.
