ROME: American skipper Zach Johnson admitted he "would love to start the week over" after his team failed to retain the Ryder Cup following a miserable start despite a rally in Sunday's singles.
The USA were expected to put up a fierce fight in their bid to win on European soil for the first time since 1993.
But Europe swept the opening session for the first time on Friday and never looked back.
Johnson's men fought back on Saturday afternoon and on the final day but had left it far too late for a miraculous turnaround and questions from the US media are already being asked about his captaincy, wildcard picks and the team's preparation.
Initially after the Americans' seventh consecutive away loss was confirmed, Johnson said the "defeat was on me" and that he "made some poor decisions."
"I would love to start the week over, but that's not possible," he told a press conference after Luke Donald's Europe wrapped up a 16.5-11.5 victory.
"This is a moment where you literally just have to accept that the European team played really, really good golf, and that is really my freshest reflection right now is that Luke's team played great, and my boys rallied and fought."
The USA's wait for an away triumph will stretch to 34 years by the time the Ryder Cup returns to Europe in 2027 at Aldare Manor in Ireland.
The next edition will be held in New York at Bethpage Black in two years' time.
"Four years from now, hopefully we'll implement a better process certainly than I did and we can show up in Ireland, obviously retain it, get it back in New York, but keep it once we go back to Ireland," added Johnson.
Europe have now won 10 of the last 14 Ryder Cups, despite the Americans often boasting a far stronger team based on major wins and the world rankings.
Heading to Rome, the majority of the US team had not played a competitive round since the Tour Championship in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup play-offs five weeks ago.
Europe's players teed it up at the European Tour's flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in mid-September, with six of them finishing in the top 10 and all 12 making the cut.
"No. I mean, my first reaction would be no," insisted Johnson when asked if the lack of tournament golf was behind his team's slow start.
"There's also something to be said about rest and recovering and getting your game in a position where you can go compete.
"These guys have won a lot of golf tournaments with weeks off. I have."
Europe appeared by far the sharper of the two sides on Friday and Saturday morning, romping into a seven-point lead after the first three sessions.
Jordan Spieth disagreed with Johnson, though, saying he would have preferred less time away from the PGA Tour before the event.
"If you asked us when we would like to play the Ryder Cup relative to our schedule, I think we would probably say, give us a week after the Tour Championship or two weeks after and then go, instead of five," said Spieth, who struggled for form and won only one point in four outings.
"It's hard for me to speak for the rest of the team. For me personally, I'd like to feel pretty sharp going in."
The vast majority of the Europeans had played the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club course before at the Italian Open, including former champions Robert MacIntyre, Nicolai Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton, but the Americans had only had a brief training trip earlier this month.
"I personally didn't think so," Justin Thomas said on whether that made a big difference.
"I thought it was really great of Zach and the PGA to be accommodating to have us come over here and take a little scouting trip... obviously didn't show, but I felt it was very helpful."--AFP