Zach Johnson accepts blame for USA's Ryder Cup defeat, wishes he could start over

On paper the 15.5-11.5 defeat reflected better on his team than they had actually played, having gone into the final day with a mountain to climb trailing 10.5-5.5 after being second best for the first three sessions.

Defeat extended America's run without a win on European soil beyond 30 years – it will be 34 by the time they return to Adare Manor in 2027 – and Johnson took full responsibility.

"I would love to start the week over but that's not possible," he said.

"You know, regret is a strong word, but I wish I would have done a better job of that.

"I don't know what it looks like – never will – but it's not a matter of anything other than Team Europe scored more points.

"They played great and they were very impressive. We got outplayed.

"I'm proud of my guys, they fought. It's not them, it's on me. Maybe it's some poor decisions, something to reflect (on). I don't know yet."

In the wake of defeat there were obviously calls for an immediate post-mortem into what went wrong and how things could be improved.

However, Johnson said he was in no state to be able to compute that.

"I don't know where to start. It's too fresh and too raw. I don't have the brainwaves to function right now," he added.

"I'll reflect on this and Team USA will be better off at some point. We will learn. We have motivation and they (players) will learn to.

"We will look at every angle, we will diagnose every little bit of it. I'm not making excuses, Europe outplayed us and they earned it."

Despite having 10 of the world's top 20 in their 12-man team the Americans failed to rise to the occasion until it was too late.

Even an improved performance in the singles could not see them win the session, which finished 6-6.

World number one Scottie Scheffler claimed just one point – his half with world number three Jon Rahm in the singles adding to the half he earned in Friday's foursomes match.

It was a a hugely disappointing return for the 27-year-old, who was rested on Saturday afternoon after a 9&7 hammering by Viktor Hovland and rookie Ludvig Aberg alongside Brooks Koepka which left him emotional and close to tears as he watched his team-mates tee off.

"It's a tough week and sometimes you get on the wrong side of things," said Scheffler

"Brooks and I went out and we both just decided we were going to play terrible. I kind of started the party. I got off to a bad start, and things spiralled out of control from there.

"I was emotional after the round because I care a lot about this tournament.

"Going out first today I wanted to do what I could to get a point on the board for our team. We wanted to come out fighting, no doubt about that.

"I really don't know what to say because I just wanted to win my match today for these guys. That's really all there is to it."

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