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The New Zealand Women's Golf Open has been delayed another year after losing its major sponsor.

The tournament was scheduled to return to the LPGA schedule in February next year but has been put back to 2020 at the earliest.

New Zealand hosted its first LPGA sanctioned tournament in 2017 near Auckland, where Canadian Brooke Henderson emerged victorious.

It wasn't staged this year as organisers sought to move the tournament to a different part of the Tour's calendar.

Organisers have been unable to land a global naming sponsor after the inaugural backers pulled out.

NZ Golf chief executive Dean Murphy remained committed to hosting the world's premier women's players.

"Bringing the LPGA Tour to New Zealand is a huge undertaking which requires significant commercial support from tournament sponsors," he said.

"While the 2017 event was an unqualified success, we need to make prudent and financially sensible decisions for future events."

Senior LPGA official Ricki Lasky said staging a tournament in New Zealand remained a priority.

Masters champion Patrick Reed has admitted egos were a problem for the American team as he blamed Jordan Spieth for the end of their successful Ryder Cup partnership.

And Reed claimed it was "not smart" of US captain Jim Furyk to leave him out of two sessions at Le Golf National as Europe regained the trophy with a resounding seven-point victory on Sunday.

Reed and Spieth had won four and halved two of their seven matches together at the previous two Ryder Cups at Gleneagles and Hazeltine, but Reed was twice paired with Tiger Woods and Spieth played four matches with close friend Justin Thomas in Paris.

That was the subject of the final question of the American team's press conference on Sunday evening, with Spieth answering diplomatically: "We were totally involved in every decision that was made. Jim allowed it to be a player-friendly environment."

However, in an interview conducted an hour later with the New York Times, Reed said at that point he was looking at Spieth "like I was about to light the room up like Phil in '14," a reference to Phil Mickelson's searing criticism of captain Tom Watson - sat just a few feet away - following the loss at Gleneagles.

That defeat prompted the formation of a "Task Force" to examine the reasons behind recent US failures in the Ryder Cup and seemed to pay dividends with the victory at Hazeltine, but it did not take long for the cracks to appear after the failure to win on European soil for the first time since 1993.

"The issue's obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me," Reed said. "I don't have any issue with Jordan. When it comes right down to it, I don't care if I like the person I'm paired with or if the person likes me as long as it works and it sets up the team for success.

"He and I know how to make each other better. We know how to get the job done."

Reed and Woods were the only American pair to lose on Friday morning, after which Reed expected Furyk to revert to pairings which had worked previously. Instead, he and Woods sat out the foursomes session which was lost 4-0 for the first time in Ryder Cup history.

After a second defeat to Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood on Saturday morning, Reed was left out again while Woods partnered Bryson DeChambeau to another loss to Molinari and Fleetwood.

"For somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don't think it's smart to sit me twice," added Reed, who beat Tyrrell Hatton in Sunday's singles.

"Every day (in the team room) I saw 'Leave your egos at the door'. They (the Europeans) do that better than us."

Europe waited two long years for that one moment when the Ryder Cup was back in their hands.

Exactly when it happened Sunday was unclear, making it all the better.

At roughly the same time, in two singles matches on two greens at Le Golf National separated by 150 yards of water, Francesco Molinari and Sergio Garcia each made par to secure at least a half-point, either one giving Europe the 14 points needed to win the Ryder Cup back from the Americans.

As the celebration was just getting started, Molinari capped off the first 5-0 week at the Ryder Cup for a European.

Three of those points came at the expense of Tiger Woods, who left France without contributing a point. Molinari won his singles match against Phil Mickelson, officially putting the winning point on the board for Europe and putting Mickelson in the record book for the most losses - 22- in Ryder Cup history.

Then, Garcia won his match to set the record for the most career points in Ryder Cup history.

It was like that all week.

Europe produced stars old and new with a team that was as strong as ever.

"We got it right this week," European captain Thomas Bjorn said. "We never, ever looked toward their team about what they were about. We were about us as a team and what we do. ... Everything that this Ryder Cup was is what I think the Ryder Cup should be about for a European team."

Mostly, it's about winning.

The final shot came from Alex Noren, who after conceding a short birdie putt to Bryson DeChambeau on the 18th hole, made a 40-foot birdie putt to win the match.

That made it 17-10 - the biggest Ryder Cup rout in 12 years.

Europe now have won nine of the last 12. The Americans remain winless away from home since 1993.

And there wasn't much US captain Jim Furyk could do about it.

"They played some great golf this week, and I take my cap off," Furyk said. "Thomas was a better captain and their team outplayed us. And there's nothing else more you can say. They deserved to win."

Molinari was just as good on his own as he was with Tommy Fleetwood, and the best year of his golfing life somehow got better. Just over two months ago, he was posing with that silver claret jug at the British Open as Italy's first major champion. This felt just as sweet because it was a trophy he shared with a team.

"This team has been incredible from the start," Molinari said. "We were determined to do the job. Nothing was going to stop us. And you saw it on the course."

"Let's be honest - the European side played some exquisite golf," the 48-year-old Mickelson said.

The same couldn't be said for Mickelson or Woods, two giants of their generation, both with losing records in the Ryder Cup.

But this was more about the Europeans as a team, and they were tougher than ever on a course they knew well.

REACTION TO EUROPE'S THUMPING RYDER CUP WIN OVER THE US ON SUNDAY:

"Let me put it this way, it's going to go on a part that only Grace will see." - European captain Thomas Bjorn, who promised to get a tattoo if his team won. His girlfriend is Grace Barber.

"This is the best team room I've ever been in. It was calm, determined, focused, fun." - Bjorn.

"Thomas didn't fill our week with pointless team meetings." - Justin Rose.

"This team was relentless in its pursuit of excellence." - Rose.

"He wasn't a bad pick, was he?" - Bjorn, who selected Sergio Garcia as a wildcard pick after the Spaniard failed to make the team automatically.

"You could see on Monday when we got together it wasn't ending up any other way." - Francesco Molinari on how the European team gelled from the start of the week.

"I've been carried by the other guys the other two times I was on the winning side. It was about time to help them. I'm glad I showed up prepared and did the job." - Molinari after winning all five of his matches.

"Why don't you ask Francesco how are 17 and 18 playing?" - a joking Garcia. Only one of Molinari's matches made it to the 17th hole, and none as far as the 18th.

"We've all had this WhatsApp group going for awhile, which has sort of been just one big love-in," - Rory McIlroy.

"We even managed to get Rory on WhatsApp." - Garcia, revealing his teammate was new to that means of communication.

"Thomas was a better captain, and their team out-played us. And there's nothing else more you can say. They deserved to win." - Losing captain Jim Furyk.

"We're going to get second-guessed and we're going to get questioned. I realise as a leader of this team and as a captain, the brunt of it is going to be on my plate and I accepted that when I took this role." - Furyk.

"To have a Ryder Cup end that way, for me personally, it doesn't feel very good because I didn't help my teammates earn any points." - Tiger Woods after losing all four of his matches.

"I'm motivated to play well these next two years to get back at Whistling Straits and to show what I can do in these events, because this week was not my best." - Phil Mickelson, after losing both his matches, on his determination to make the 2020 US team.

"Seve brought the passion but I have to say back in that era there was a little bit of hate." - former European stalwart Nick Faldo, on how the sense of injustice felt by the late Seve Ballesteros towards American golf helped galvanise the European team in the 1980s and 1990s and pave the way for the success of recent years.

"This loss this week was not about a lack of chemistry. It was about a lack of accuracy on behalf of the United States." - Analyst Brandel Chamblee, blaming the American defeat on inaccurate driving.

Francesco Molinari walked straight into the heart of a throng of rowdy European fans beside the 16th tee and was soon covered with beer from plastic pint pots.

He finally managed to yank himself free, only for his teammates to lift him off his feet. His captain, Thomas Bjorn, emerged through a mass of cameras and grabbed his star player by both cheeks.

"MOLI! MOLI, MOLI! MOLI MOLI! MOLI MOLINARI!" the jubilant spectators roared in a chant that swept across Le Golf National.

British Open champion. Now Europe's record-breaking Ryder Cup hero. It's been quite a few months for the little Italian with a big heart.

"I couldn't dream," Molinari said, "of a summer like this."

How fitting that it fell to Molinari to clinch the winning point for Europe at the Ryder Cup on Sunday. His 4-and-2 win over Phil Mickelson, sealed when the American conceded the match after dumping a tee shot into the water at No. 16, gave Molinari a fifth point of the week.

Molinari is the first European, and second player overall in the competition's current format, to go 5-0 at a Ryder Cup. He had teamed with close friend Tommy Fleetwood to win four points in fourballs and foursomes matches over Friday and Saturday.

He finished the Ryder Cup without playing the 18th hole. He only made it to No. 17 once.

"You know this golf course has 18 holes, right?" Sergio Garcia asked Molinari at a news conference held by all members of the European team.

This is a very different Molinari to the one that played in Europe's winning teams in 2010 and '12, claiming just half a point in each of them. He halved his singles match with Tiger Woods at Medinah to ensure Europe didn't just retain the cup but won it outright, yet he didn't feel he really contributed.

"My record was pretty shocking coming into this week," he said.

Molinari has been transformed since he started working with Dave Alred , an elite performance coach who helps players improve the mental side of their game. He was taken out of his comfort zone in practice sessions, which became more intense so they resembled the strains of competition.

The rewards arrived this year. In May, he won the BMW PGA Championship - the European Tour's flagship event at Wentworth. In July, he won the Quicken Loans National on the PGA Tour and then lifted the claret jug at Carnoustie following a nerveless final round of 69 playing in the last group with Woods. He became the first Italian to win a major.

Molinari is now ranked No. 5 and, according to Padraig Harrington, a "world-class player."

"He has always been a great ball-striker ... Now he has consistency," said Harrington, one of Europe's vice-captains.

A BRIEF LOOK AT THE 2018 RYDER CUP WON BY EUROPE:

SCORE: Europe 17 US 10.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Francesco Molinari became the first player for Europe to go 5-0 in the matches.

EUROPEAN STREAK: Europe now have won nine of the last 12 times in the Ryder Cup and have not lost at home since 1993.

WINLESS: Tiger Woods went 0-4, failing to contribute a point for the first time in eight Ryder Cups.

GOOD RECORD: Sergio Garcia beat Rickie Fowler to set the Ryder Cup record for most career points at 25.

BAD RECORD: Phil Mickelson lost to Francesco Molinari, giving him a Ryder Cup record 22 losses.

MATCH OF THE DAY: Jon Rahm and Tiger Woods were all square through 12 holes in a match the Americans needed to win to have any chance. Woods lost the next two holes with bogeys, and Rahm beat him with a birdie on the 17th hole.

SHOT OF THE DAY: Alex Noren holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th to win his match. It only determined the score, but it was a fitting end.

SERIES: United States leads, 26-14-2.

NEXT TIME: Whistling Straits in 2020.

The United States failed to find the flying start they wanted on the final day of the 42nd Ryder Cup at Le Golf National.

Europe's 10-6 lead meant they needed just 4-1/2 points from the 12 singles matches for a ninth win in the last 12 contests.

But overturning such a deficit has been achieved twice before, with US captain Jim Furyk part of the team which came back from 10-6 down to win at Brookline in 1999.

However, he also lost a crucial match at Medinah in 2012 when Europe did the same.

With all 12 matches out on the course, Europe led in five, trailed in two and were all square in the remaining five.

Rory McIlroy was sent out in the opening singles match for the second contest in succession and was up against one of the USA's best players, Justin Thomas, having won three of his four matches in Paris alongside good friend Jordan Spieth.

McIlroy recovered from losing the first hole to move two up, but was pegged back to all square when Thomas birdied the eighth and 10th and the American chipped in for par on the 12th to remain level.

Paul Casey got off to a nightmare start in match two when his approach to the first plugged in a greenside bunker and he hit his third into the water, but the Englishman battled back to all square against three-time major winner Brooks Koepka at the turn.

Biggest surprise of the day so far was Justin Rose falling three down to Webb Simpson after eight holes, with Tommy Fleetwood's perfect record also in jeopardy as he trailed Tony Finau by the same margin after seven.

There was better news elsewhere as Jon Rahm was two up on Tiger Woods and Thorbjorn Olesen led Spieth by the same margin, with Francesco Molinari also two up on Phil Mickelson, who had been benched on Saturday after a record 21st defeat on Friday.

American golfer Brooks Koepka was shaken after injuring a spectator when he hit her in the head with a wild tee shot on the first day of the Ryder Cup in France.

On the par-4 sixth hole, Koepka struck a woman in the gallery and bloodied her head.

He said he checked on her condition after his round and had not heard any update from Ryder Cup officials.

"It's not a fun feeling. I probably do it way more than I should," he said.

"You feel terrible for them. You know exactly how they are feeling, especially when you've got to go over there and apologise because they are in pain, usually bleeding, and then to hit her in the face is not ... you don't want to hit anybody in the face, especially not a woman, and it's not a good feeling.

"I just wanted to get out of there," he said. "We'll get an update on her, but hopefully she's doing good."

Koepka says he yelled, "Fore!" but is not sure it would have mattered.

"The problem is, you shout, 'Fore,' but from 300 yards, how are you supposed to hear it? How are you supposed to know?" Koepka said.

"From 300 yards, even if none of us said, 'Fore,' she's going to get hit. And that's the unfortunate thing."

Holders the United States drew first blood in the 42nd Ryder Cup as a fluctuating opening session tracked towards a dramatic conclusion in France.

Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler eased to a 4&2 victory over an out-of-sorts Rory McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen at Le Golf National near Versailles.

Former world No.1 McIlroy was remarkably the only player in the opening session not to make a single birdie.

But the other three fourball matches were all square on the closing stretch as Europe captain Thomas Bjorn anxiously waited to see if his gamble of playing four of his five rookies would pay off.

Justin Rose and Jon Rahm twice enjoyed a two-shot lead over Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau, but were pegged back to all square when Finau's water-bound tee-shot on the 16th hit a wooden sleeper surrounding the hazard and bounced up to within three feet of the hole.

Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton had looked destined for defeat when Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas raced into a three-hole lead thanks to five birdies in the first seven holes from Spieth, but the English pair fought back superbly to get back on level terms after 13 holes.

And Open champion Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood had also recovered from two down to Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed to get back to all square with five to play.

Jarrod Lyle has been remembered lovingly at a public memorial service at The Sands golf club as a great husband and father, a great friend and inspiration, and as a great swearer.

As a man who always had time for others and one who never took himself too seriously.

And as a great golfer.

Long-time friend and caddy Mark Middlemo recalled Lyle once taking a full swing with the putter from a water hazard at a mini golf course in Orlando and flushing his ball 140 metres onto the adjacent 1-4 freeway.

"It was very impressive and something Jason Day still talks about to this day," joked Middlemo.

Lyle was also good enough to three times secure a full playing card on the US PGA Tour in a career and life that was cruelly cut far too short.

Australian golfing great Robert Allenby first met Lyle when the then 16-year-old asked for his autograph during a tournament at Huntingdale.

A year later they renewed acquaintances in hospital after Lyle was first diagnosed with cancer, beginning a lifelong friendship.

"He said to me 'I want to be a great golfer, I'd love to get to be the best I can in my game but I also would like to give back'," recalled an emotional Allenby.

"And I don't think there's one person in this world that has met or known Jarrod who could ever say that he did not give back.

"He is and was the nicest, the most loving and the most caring (person).

"He thought about everyone before he thought about himself.

"He is just a true, true champion."

Lyle defied the odds to forge a successful pro career, while undergoing three separate stints of cancer treatment.

The father of two made the heart-wrenching decision to end treatment and go into palliative care on July 31 and died eight days later aged 36, after a recurrence of acute myeloid leukaemia in 2017.

Time and again throughout Thursday's service, fittingly held on the driving range at The Sands, speakers returned to the themes of Lyle's love for his wife Briony and young daughters Lusi and Jemma.

They also paid tribute to his knockabout nature, which included a penchant for VB beer and T-shirts.

Among his final orders to celebrant Ian Bull was that all guests at the service should dress casually and wear a dash of yellow - the colour synonymous with the Challenge cancer charity.

He didn't want anyone to wear a tie, except for his grandfather "because he always wears a tie".

The service ended with Lyle's daughters releasing two yellow balloons into a glorious clear blue sky.

The celebrant then asked the 400 family members and friends in attendance to stand and roar in unison "you f***ing beauty", echoing the phrase Lyle made famous when he scored a hole in one at the famous 16th hole at the Phoenix Open back in 2011.

It was a very Jarrod Lyle moment.