Team Europe celebrates after winning the 42nd Ryder Cup in France

Guyancourt, France - At the very least, the 42nd Ryder Cup matches were

supposed to be a tightly contested team competition filled with high drama.

It was billed as Team USA's best shot at getting a long awaited road win.

Instead, it turned out to be much of the same, another rout by Team Europe

on home soil, just outside of Paris at Le Golf National.

Team Europe 17 1/2 to Team USA 10 1/2.

Having not won across the pond since 1993, Team USA knew how tall of a

task was before them, and it once again proved to be too much. The Europeans

continued their home dominance right where it left off in 2014 (at Gleneagles

in Scotland). The combination of seasoned Ryder Cup veterans - Garcia, Rose,

McIlroy, Poulter and Stenson, mixed with rookies Rahm, Hatton, Olesen, Noren

and Fleetwood was stellar. But it was the current "Champion Golfer of the Year",

Italian Francesco Molinari who was truly dominant - going 5-0 in France.

Team USA led after Friday's opening Four-ball session 3-1, but in the anchor

match that morning, Fleetwood/Molinari (now known as "Moliwood") set the

tone for what was to come - beating Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed 3&1. That

was start of eight straight match wins for Team Europe, and for all intents and

purposes the Ryder Cup was over. There would be no Brookline or Medinah

miracle in Paris. For Team USA supporters, you might be looking to blame the

task force, or Captain Jim Furyk's pairings, but perhaps the brilliance of the

European PGA deserves some credit for the super tight set up at Le Golf National.

Not only was the set up perfectly tailored to neutralize Team USA's bomb and

gouge specialty, but the majority of team red white & blue simply didn't bring

their game to Paris. Tiger Woods went 0 for 4. Bryson DeChambeau 0 for 3. Phil

Mickelson 0 for 2. Dustin Johnson 1 for 5. Rickie Fowler 1 for 4. Bubba Watson

1 for 3. Patrick Reed 1 for 3.

It's quite possible that we've witnessed the end of an era in American Ryder

Cup teams. This edition saw Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson join the ranks of

vice captains, and it's likely that Bubba, Phil and Tiger are trending in the

same direction. In fact, since 1997 the record of the eight teams that Phil

and Tiger have played on is 1-7. Ole, Ole, Ole . . .

The Ryder Cup moves stateside to Kohler, Wisconsin at Whistling Straits in 2020.

Match results: https://www.rydercup.com/scoring

Justin Rose and Tiger Woods both celebrate Sunday at East Lake

Atlanta - So much has happened in the last 1876 days in this world that we know,

but Tiger Woods winning wasn't one of them. Last year at this time during the

Presidents Cup he wasn't even making full golf swings yet. The collective golf

universe was just hoping for his health and perhaps a return to the sport ONE

DAY. At 42, and with a fused back it certainly was a long shot that he could ever

regain his winning ways, but once the 2018 season was underway and Woods

returned, it appeared that this crazy and near impossible dream had a chance.

Afterall, this was Tiger Woods.

The week at East Lake for the latest edition of the Tour Championship started

out as any other for the 14 time major champion. He explained in the standing

room only) media interview room where his game was and how he thought

he could win at East Lake. The reasons seemed valid for sure, his ball striking

"was evolving" as he put it, and his results were certainly trending up.

After 3 days on Bobby Jones' boyhood stomping grounds, the "Sunday Red

Shirt" held the 54 hole lead (over Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy). By the turn

on Sunday, the Euro stars had fallen back and only Billy Horschel was able

to pose any kind of a challenge. Rose, needing to birdie the 72nd hole to secure

the season-long Fedex Cup, hit the green in two and did just that - finishing at

-6 (tied for 4th after his final round 73). Just two weeks before he had taken

over the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and now he was 10 million

dollars richer. After a couple of bogeys on the way in, Tiger saved par on 17 and

two-putted on the last to finish off the field of 30. Woods final round 71 (11

under par total) was enough to win by two over Horschel, who shot a final

round 66.

The gallery out at East Lake knew that they were witnessing history, and

what a scene it was as they swarmed the final group as they walked up the

18th. Not only was it Tiger's first victory since 2013, it was his 80th career

win on the PGA Tour (trailing only Sam Snead at 82). An emotional Woods

showed a side very few have seen in victory. "It’s been tough, I’ve had a not

so easy last couple of years," Woods said. "I’ve worked my way back and I

couldn’t have done it without the help of everyone around me. Some of the

players that I saw after on the 18^th green, they know what I was struggling

with and it was really special to see them there. It is just hard to believe

that I’ve won the TOUR Championship.”

For Rose, who normally would have been the headliner after being crowned

the season long champion, he understood that this Woods victory meant so

much to so many. "Jokingly I said to him - About time. He's looked so good

this year, and I think it's been a matter of time and I think that we've all been

waiting for him to win and wanting him to win. I think it's great for the sport,

it's great for the game," Rose said. "He really truly moves the needle like no

one else out here."

Now it's on to Paris for the Ryder Cup . . .

Scores: https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html

A major champion at last, Angela Stanford celebrates after winning at Evian Resort.

Evian Les Bains, France - It wasn't supposed to take this long. For Angela

Stanford who finished runner-up at the 2003 U.S Women's Open in just

her third season, the majors would surely come. After 18 years on tour,

and 13 top tens in majors without a win - it went from likely to unlikely.

Sometimes the  unlikely occurs when you least expect it, for Stanford it

happened at 40 years old.

Stanford started the day five strokes back of 54 hole leader Amy Olson,

who led Sei Young Kim by two. Coming down the stretch, Olson and Stanford

were knotted up when a double bogey on the par-3 16th took Stanford out

of a tie for the lead. Stanford was emotional after missing her birdie attempt

on the 72nd hole, her final round 68 ended in up and down fashion, eagle-

double bogey-birdie-par to apparently finish just short, but leader Amy Olson's

double bogey at the last handed the title to Stanford.

If you had told Angela Stanford years ago, that she would be 40 when she

broke through for her 1st major what would she have said? "I would have

laughed, (and said) 'No way, it's going to happen before', Stanford said.

Stanford's finished at 12 under par (272 total) earning $577,500.

Olson's gaffe at the last put her in a four-way tie with Americans Austin

Earnst, Mo Martin and South Korea's Sei Young Kim.

Leaderboard: http://www.lpga.com/leaderboard