Team Europe :: One year on

It’s one year to the day since Team Europe defeated USA at Gleneagles to lift the Ryder Cup for a third successive time.

But a year is a long time in golf and, on the individual front, players from the two teams have had very contrasting fortunes since victory was secured with that Jamie Donaldson wedge shot on the 15th hole.

Only three of the 12 Europeans have gone on to record tournament wins since – Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson – contrasted with seven of the US team, four of which have won multiple times.

So, in numbers, how do the teams compare? We’ll start with Team Europe.

Rory McIlroy

The former world No.1 has described his 2015 as ‘disappointing’, but he’s been by far the most successful European player since Gleneagles – being the only the member of the team to clock up multiple wins, despite playing the fewest number of events.

WR before: 1
WR now: 3
Events played: 18
Wins: 3
Top 10s: 11
Missed cuts: 3
Prize money: $6,416,650

Justin Rose

Fourth at the BMW Masters and runner-up at the DP World Tour Championship capped a decent end to 2014 for Rose, but the Englishman struggled to find form early in 2015 with three missed cuts in five events until his runner-up finish at the Masters. Won two weeks later at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and has been in great form since.

WR before: 6
WR now: 7
Events played: 26
Wins: 1
Top 10s: 10
Missed cuts: 5
Prize money: $6,397,234

>>> VIEW TEAM USA HERE <<<

Henrik Stenson

The only other European to win a tournament on the two main tours since the Ryder Cup, Stenson won the season-ending DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour and has also recorded SIX runner-up finishes, with the most recent at the Deutsche Bank Championship where he surrendered a three-shot back nine lead to Rickie Fowler.

WR before: 5
WR now: 6
Events played: 24
Wins: 1
Top 10s: 12
Missed cuts: 1
Prize money: $6,952,720

Sergio Garcia

The Spaniard was ranked third in the world heading into last year’s Ryder Cup but is now outside the top ten now after a poor 12 months, where the closest he came to victory was a play-off defeat at the Players Championship to that man again, Rickie Fowler.

WR before: 3
WR now: 11
Events played: 22
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 5
Missed cuts: 2
Prize money: $2,996,153

>>> VIEW TEAM USA HERE <<<

Martin Kaymer

Sixth at the WGC-HSBC Champions in late 2014 was followed up by back-to-back top fives in the Middle East. But the German endured a horrible dip in form thereafter, taking until July to regain it after a fourth-placed finish at the French Open. Lost his PGA Tour card after failing to fulfil the minimum number of events and that pain was followed up with a play-off defeat at the Italian Open two weeks ago.

WR before: 12
WR now: 20
Events played: 25
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 5
Missed cuts: 7
Prize money: $1,690,353

Ian Poulter

A best-ever finish at the Masters of a tie for sixth was probably Poulter’s highlight of the year since the Ryder Cup, with the Englishman failing to make an impact in any of the other majors. The 39-year-old, who is hosting the British Masters at Woburn in a couple of weeks’ time, is now approaching three years without a win.

WR before: 38
WR now: 42
Events played: 23
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 5
Missed cuts: 5
Prize money: $2,489,329.

Graeme McDowell

It’s been nothing short of a torrid 12 months for the 2010 US Open champion. He hasn’t had a top ten finish since the Dubai Desert Classic which finished on February 1 and went through a spell of five missed cuts in eight tournaments from the FedEx St Jude Classic in mid-June through to the US PGA Championship.

WR before: 18
WR now: 71
Events played: 24
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 3
Missed cuts: 7
Prize money: $996,109

Lee Westwood

In 14 PGA Tour strokeplay events since the Ryder Cup, Westwood has failed to register a top ten and his highlight would probably be topping his WGC-Cadillac Match Play group and knocking Jordan Spieth out in the process. Not acknowledging is win in Indonesia, Westwood’s best finish since Gleneagles is T5 at the Malaysian Open. But still, he is the only European player who has improved their world ranking.

WR before: 44
WR now: 43
Events played: 23
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 4
Missed cuts: 3
Prize money: $1,384,994

>>> VIEW TEAM USA HERE <<<

Victor Dubuisson

Like Westwood, McDowell and Kaymer before him, the Frenchman performed well in the immediate aftermath of the match, finishing runner-up at the ISPS Handa Perth International and DP World Tour Championship. But 2015 has been well below par, with his best finish being ninth in Abu Dhabi, followed closely by finishing tenth at the Scottish Open.

WR before: 23
WR now: 57
Events played: 25
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 5
Missed cuts: 8
Prize money: $1,583,762

Jamie Donaldson

The match winner at Gleneagles with that exceptional wedge shot against Keegan Bradley, Donaldson has had a quiet year but certainly not as disastrous as some of his team-mates, with top ten finishes at both the Players Championship and the Honda Classic.

WR before: 25
WR now: 48
Events played: 25
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 5
Missed cuts: 6
Prize money: $1,620,304

Stephen Gallacher

Only one top ten for the Scot since fulfilling his Ryder Cup dream on home soil last year – which came at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic – he missed the cut in each of this year’s four majors and also disappointed the Scottish fans by doing likewise at Gullane. Since that third-placed finish in Dubai at the start of the year, Gallacher’s best has been T24 at the Nordea Masters.

WR before: 34
WR now: 96
Events played: 26
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 1
Missed cuts: 9
Prize money: $633,249

>>> VIEW TEAM USA HERE <<<

Thomas Bjorn

You just need to take a look below to gauge the kind of 12 months Thomas Bjorn has had. No top ten finishes in 21 events has seen the Dane tumble more than 100 places down the world rankings, with his best performance coming T11 at the BMW PGA Championship.

WR before: 30
WR now: 142
Events played: 21
Wins: 0
Top 10s: 0
Missed cuts: 8
Prize money: $513,244

Team Europe totals 

Avg WR before: 19.9
Avg WR now: 45.5
Total events: 260
Wins: 5
Top 10s: 67
Missed cuts: 64
Prize money: $33,674,101

Team Europe :: One year on

What do you make of the performances of the 12 European players over the past 12 months? Leave your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below.