Reflecting on 30 years of U.S. Ryder Cup misery as team seeks to end drought - ESPN

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy — American golfer Max Homa has been known to crawl down a rabbit hole at times while preparing to play. Getting ready for his first Ryder Cup has been no different. Homa said he «nerded out» the past few weeks by watching YouTube videos of past Ryder Cups played outside of the United States.

«I just started really enjoying the silence, because it meant that our team was doing well,» Homa said of the crowd noise of an away game.

The silence is significant. For the past three decades, the Ryder Cups played on the other side of the pond have sounded more like a rock concert, as European fans willed their teams to six straight victories. The Americans' last win outside the U.S. was a 15-13 victory at The Belfry in Warwickshire, England, in September 1993.

«They're bonded by nationality over there,» former U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said. «The Englishmen play together, the Irishmen, the Spaniards. I think it's immeasurable what it means to them. I think Americans, we can quantify it. I think for them they can't even quantify it. It's a big deal to us, too, don't get me wrong.»

Azinger was a player on the 1993 team that last defeated the Europeans outside the U.S. He was captain of the 2008 squad that ended a three-match losing streak with a 16½-11½ win at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

«I always looked at the Ryder Cup, in my generation, my era, as being razor thin,» Azinger said. «I would compare it to being in Vegas. There's only a 1% advantage in blackjack, but they're building some pretty nice hotels on it.»

The Europeans have been playing with house money in the Ryder Cup for quite a while.

The American teams have fallen in Spain, England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and