NOT since the 1981 Ryder Cup at Walton Heath have Great Britain & Ireland's golfers suffered a more humiliating session than the one witnessed yesterday at The Carrick on Loch Lomond.
The United States won the 24th PGA Cup – their first success in four attempts on Scottish soil in the club professionals' equivalent of the Ryder Cup – after a thumping 8.5-1.5 victory in the singles.
That gave them a 17.5-8.5 win overall and, in
addition to leading the biennial event 16-5, the Americans have completed a clean sweep in team matches over the past two years against their rivals on this side of the Atlantic.
"History will show that we were annihilated and, when you look at the score, we were, though the margin of defeats was tiny in the individual matches," said a disappointed Gary Alliss, the GB&I team captain, after watching Jeremy Robinson provide a sole singles success.
"They were very strong and didn't make many mistakes. They also putted better and were a shot or hole better than us all week."
Brian Whitcomb, the winning American captain, said he reckoned the final score didn't reflect how close the match had been but heaped praise on his players for making their opponents feel the heat was on them from the word go on Friday morning.
"Several Great Britain & Ireland players came up to me afterwards and said our team had constantly kept pressure on them by hitting fairways and greens all the time," Whitcomb said.
"I believe that was the difference," added the 55-year-old, who was happy that the 'pod system' he copied from last year's Ryder Cup had paid off for him.
"I owe a debt of gratitude to Paul Azinger and the 2008 US Ryder Cup team because I learned a lot from them and I sold my team on it," Whitcomb said.
Despite closing the gap on the Americans to just two points after winning the second day's play 5-3, the optimism in the GB&I camp was soon drained away as scoreboards around the course became a sea of red yesterday, when the visitors wasted no time getting themselves across the finishing line.
It was like that Ryder Cup nearly 30 years ago, when a star-studded American team won the singles 11-1.
The home players simply had no answer then and, in truth, it was the same this time even if most of the matches were relatively close.
The trophy was retained when Mark Sheftic, a 35-year-old teaching professional at Merion, the venue for last weekend's Walker Cup, thumped Welshman James Lee 6 and 5.
The honour of clinching the victory on this occasion went to Steve Schneiter, who beat Andrew Barnett on the last green.
Craig Matheson, the sole Scot in the GB&I team, suffered his third defeat, though in fairness the 26-year-old assistant professional at Falkirk Tryst did give a good account of himself against Lee Rinker, a former PGA Tour player who finished runner-up to Tiger Woods in the 1997 Byron Nelson Championship.
Two up after four, Matheson had an untidy run of three straight bogeys, losing the hole each time, before Rinker went two up with an excellent birdie-2 at the 231-yard 12th.
The American closed within sight of victory when he also secured the short 14th, this time with a par, before they halved the 15th in birdie-4s.
Matheson hit a great 7-iron at the 16th and was almost celebrating a hole-in-one as he won that with a 2 but that only delayed the inevitable really, with Rinker, a 48-year-old who was playing in the event for a third time, securing a 3 and 1 win after Matheson pulled his second shot into the trees at the 17th.
"I am proud of the way I played, particularly over the last few holes," said the Scot. "Unfortunately, my game was not 100 per cent but I tried to keep the match going as long as possible.
"Despite the result, it's been a fantastic experience and this is a memory I'll have forever."
Unlike some of his team-mates, Matheson won't have time to dwell on the heavy defeat. He's heading down to The Oxfordshire this morning to prepare for the first phase of the European Tour Qualifying School.
"I need to be there by lunchtime to get a full practice round as the course is closing at 4pm," Matheson added.
Next in the firing line in these team matches are GB&I's female amateurs but, having lost the last six encounters against their American counterparts, the odds on them bringing the Curtis Cup back from Massachusetts in June appear to be slim.
After that, it's the Ryder Cup and golf on this side of the Atlantic badly needs Colin Montgomerie and his European team to give it a much-needed shot in the arm at Celtic Manor in South Wales in just over a year's time.
