How Rory McIlroy, Paul Casey and Francesco Molinari spearhearded a transatlantic shift for the PGA Tour

Europe’s spell of domination since the Ryder Cup marks a portentous moment for the PGA Tour

Still thriving on the buoyant embers of Ryder Cup triumph, Europe’s domination borders on a portentous moment on the PGA Tour. After Francesco Molinari streaked to Sunday victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy held off the weight of the field and the world to end his drought on Sawgrass’s island and Paul Casey became the first man in history to defend the title at the Valspar Championship. It seems the working of fate’s sensibility that the chance for Europe to win four consecutive events on the PGA Tour for the first time since its inception in 1929 should fall on the weekend of the first match play event since their feat in Paris.

The shift marks a stark transition away from golf’s American monopoly of college conveyor belts, supposedly fostering the next generation of stars such as Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Champ. The sleight-handed shotmaking Europeans, raised on tricky rabbit-hole-riven fairways and uneven greens, are usurping the long-drive champions in a game that is dramatically realigning itself with a favouring for accuracy over the gung-ho.

Admittedly, Casey, who has embarked on the most spectacular renaissance as he approaches his 42nd birthday, refined his art at Arizona State University. But for the likes of McIlroy, Molinari and Ian Poulter, who boast four top-10 finishes since the turn of the year, there is a confidence of capabilities to the type of golf nurtured on links and parkland courses - McIlroy at Portrush, Poulter at Woburn. The seismic desert courses, with their 550-yard par-4s and lenient recoveries slowly, and thankfully, losing their might of influence. A transition typified by an exasperated Phil Mickelson, when the 44-time PGA Tour winner claimed he would never play a course like Le Golf National again, labelling it “a waste of time”.

The pro-European swing, though, has remained after the shackling in Paris, perhaps purely down to the power of confidence. Europe’s players have forever heard the mantra of “the best American team ever”, but are now used to matching them too and fro. Recent successes over the course of the Tour’s Florida swing only further detaching them from the excuse of home advantage last September.

Between 2000 and 2006 not a single major was won by a European player. But in the last six years, Europe have claimed seven majors by way of six different winners - Justin Rose (US Open, 2013), Rory McIlroy (The Open, 2014, PGA 2014), Martin Kaymer (US Open, 2014, Danny Willett (Masters, 2016), Henrik Stenson (The Open, 2016), Sergio Garcia (Masters, 2017) and Francesco Molinari (The Open, 2018). Three decades ago, only 15 Europeans featured in the top 100. Now they make up six of the top-12.

We’ve also seen the notable tailing off of many of America’s greatest talents. Beyond the veil of Tiger Woods, the once touted talisman of Justin Spieth has become stifled and inconsistent, leaving Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and DeChambeau to fly the flag. In fact, the most successful US players in 2018, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, both ventured to Europe to begin their professional careers and continue to feature on the European Tour.

It’s telling too of how Europe’s combatants are beginning to outlast their rivals. Rose (38), Garcia (39), Casey (41), Stenson (42), Poulter (43) all featured at the Ryder Cup. Outside of the Woods and Mickelson anomaly bracket, only Matt Kuchar (40) has managed to outpace the shadows and he was reserved for a vice-captaincy role in Paris.

Rory McIlroy ended his trophy drought at the Players Championship (Getty) (Getty Images)

“To still be doing it at this age when a lot of others have come and gone there’s a lot of satisfaction in that,” Casey told The Independent last month. “Part of it is maybe you haven’t ticked the box. But if you talk to other players like Westwood who have struggled and come back its incredibly satisfying to get it back.”

So perhaps, after a new era of unprecedented dominance, the tides are gently shifting across the transatlantic. One of the strongest ensemble's of European talent since the days of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer to stage their flight in America, boasting consistency, precocity and longevity. A trio of qualities that outweigh all others. Next week, at the WGC Matchplay in Austin, Texas, as they return to the format for the first time since victory in Paris, they look to chalk away history and make it four tournaments on the trot.