Europe are looking for an unprecedented fourth Ryder Cup victory in a row when the event starts on Friday at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
The only other time they had a similar chance was in 2008 at Valhalla (1991 at Kiawah Island did not count as the 1989 encounter at The Belfry was drawn), which ended disastrously.
Here Press Association Sport looks at where it went wrong last time.
SIR NICK FALDO
Probably the major contributing factor was the captain. There is often a lot of undue credence given to selections and tactics when, more often than not it comes down to players playing well, but on this occasion Faldo got almost every decision wrong. The solitary nature of the man meant he picked just one vice-captain (Darren Clarke has five this time around) as he wanted autonomy when Europe's success has been built around democracy.
PLANNING
The team did not arrive in Louisville, Kentucky - at least a five-hour time difference to Europe - until Tuesday, leaving players less time to acclimatise, familiarise and practise before the early Friday start. The dynamic within the team was also off with team member Graeme McDowell speaking of them missing a "spark, someone to rally the troops". That, again, was partly down to Faldo wanting to impose himself on the team and not delegate more to assistants to help lighten the load and the mood.
TACTICS
Another captain-related issue but there is no doubt Faldo got the pairings completely wrong. His decision to drop Lee Westwood - apparently suffering from blisters on his feet - and Sergio Garcia from the second day's foursomes was disastrous for morale. Trailing 9-7 heading into Sunday's singles Faldo, expecting a tight finish, back-loaded his line-up with what appeared to be his strongest players in McDowell, Westwood, Ian Poulter, and two-time major winner Padraig Harrington. Although McDowell and Poulter won their matches it was too late as the US had already accumulated the 14 1/2 points needed to secure the trophy.
PAUL AZINGER
While Europe's captain was alienating players, America's was galvanising his. Azinger devised the pod system inspired by a documentary on the training of US Navy SEALs. The idea was to put players into groups of four and get them to do everything together so they got to know each other and their games inside-out. Nothing was too much trouble for Azinger in keeping the players happy, to the extent on the Thursday evening he had a greenkeeper cut a branch off a tree as JB Holmes felt it was in his line off the tee.
PLAYERS
For all the captain's failing some big-name players came up well short. Garcia, who had been ill in the build-up, and Westwood won just one point apiece while Harrington, who came into the event with back-to-back majors at The Open and US PGA, managed just a half from four matches. By contrast Azinger was getting the best out of his players, with the likes of 48-year-old Kenny Perry and Boo Weekly both scoring two and a half points while Anthony Kim, another two-and-a-half-pointer, set the tone in the singles by demolishing Garcia 5&4.
Source: PA
