In the end there would be no Houdini act at Hazeltine. Europe’s golfers were clinging to the hope that they could conjure another Miracle of Medinah but miraculous occurrences don’t happen that often.

For the first time since 2008, Samuel Ryder’s little gold chalice was seized by lunging American hands. In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, the tears tumbling forth at the back-slapping, high-fiving conclusion threatened to make it 10,001.

Ryan Moore, the last player into the 12 strong team as Davis Love III’s final wild card, was the man who clinched the decisive point and gave his skipper redemption. The wounds of Medinah had been healed as the US ran away with it and won 17-11. Moore’s one hole victory over a sorry Lee Westwood, who had been two up with three to play, did the trick. The Stars and Stripes were flying high.

Read more: Tiger the team player as Woods savours a new Ryder Cup roleThe Herald:

The thousands pouring into this heaving, bubbling golfing cauldron had been urged to turn the whole place into a sea of patriotic red. They’d also been warned not to turn the air blue by the PGA of America. The heckling and vulgarities that came spouting out from sections of the wound up punters during Saturday’s sessions were certainly not in keeping with spirit of this grand old game.

In the words of Prince, the late Minneapolis musical maestro whose famous Paisley Park studios are just the length of a Telecaster guitar away from Hazeltine, the US masses were determined to party like it was 1999. That was the year of the Battle of Brookline, a Ryder Cup that has gone down in infamy for its boisterous boorishness. Credit where credit’s due though.

Read more: Tiger the team player as Woods savours a new Ryder Cup role

The atmosphere on the first tee as Patrick Reed and RoryMcIlroy stepped up to the plate was quite something. Amid this shuddering cacophony, this was a pulsating, mouthwatering contest that generated so much electricity it could have fused the national grid.

The opening exchanges were simply sensational as McIlroy and Reed traded a series of fearsome blows. Over the first couple of holes, McIlroy showed little emotion while Reed was energetically flapping away like a panic-stricken Icarus, particularly when he dunted in a five-footer for an eagle two on the fifth to square the tie. McIlroy’s bottled up energy came bursting out on the sixth, though, when he drained a birdie putt to spark off a spell.

The scenes on the eighth green, meanwhile, will be replayed for years. From about 50 odd feet, McIlroy trundled in a raking birdie putt and embarked on a vein-pulsing, eye-popping, lung-bursting celebration that had you fearing he’d morph into the Incredible Hulk.

“I can’t hear you,” he bawled and gestured to the crowd like some Roman Gladiator taunting the Emperor after slaughtering everything on the Colosseum floor. They were making plenty of racket moments later, mind you. Reed responded with a 20-footer for a birdie of his own to pinch a half. In four holes from the fifth, the duo were a combined nine-under. It was terrific theatre.

The purists may have been tut-tutting at all the rabid histrionics on show but the smiling, sporting embrace that McIlroy and Reed performed as they walked off the green spoke volumes for the spirit of the contest and the game as a whole.

There were 11 matches going on elsewhere but this was the beating heart and the guts of the battle. As the other tussles ebbed and flowed, the top tie took a telling swing on the 12th as McIlroy missed a par putt and Reed made his from just inside to inch ahead for the very first time.

Read more: Tiger the team player as Woods savours a new Ryder Cup role

There were to-ings and fro-ings all over the place. One moment there was plenty of European blue on the board. The next it was awash with American red.

While the McIlroy and Reed joust battered on, Henrik Stenson produced seven birdies and an eagle, to post the seize the first point of the day as he defeated Jordan Spieth 3&2. Spieth’s challenge ended in a soggy grave when his approach to 16 landed close to the pond and, as he waded down to survey the scene with socks off, his ball then rolled in. He was penalised a shot and conceded the match. It was proof that this boy wonder can’t walk on water after all.

McIlroy and Reed, meanwhile, looked shattered and it was the American who hauled himself over the line to deliver a huge psychological blow. Two up with two to play, he managed to stave of his rival’s menacing advances and share of birdies on the 18th gave Reed a massive one hole win.

Europe were still fighting in the top order, though. Thomas Pieters became Europe’s most successful rookie ever with four wins as he surged to a 3&2 win over J.B Holmes while Rafa Cabrero Bello did his bit too.

Unfortunately the Americans were doing the business as well. Rickie Fowler edged out Justin Rose on the 18th while Phil Mickelson, the man behind the Task Force, was simply inspired and vindicated. In a quite dazzling duel with Sergio Garcia, the pair traded 19 birdies between them. It was fitting the match was halved.

Europe had loaded the top order with heavy artillery but the bottom of the draw looked vulnerable. In the final six ties, the visitors picked up just one point.

The Americans, meanwhile, were picking up the Ryder Cup.