AT 6.30am yesterday morning Nick Faldo strode through the lobby of Brown's Hotel in Louisville declining to comment further on the 37th Ryder Cup. His decision was possibly coloured by events at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday night where his final media conference was occasionally fractious.

Faldo's relationship with the media has been poor dating back to his days as a player and the fact he makes little effort to hide his feelings for the fourth estate guarantees a certain abrasion. Europe's defeat, their first since Brookline, meant that the captain's stewardship was going to be scrutinised closely.

There had been constant friction in the build-up from the moment he made his wild-card selections - Ian Poulter and to a lesser extent Paul Casey vindicated his faith - to the composition of foursomes and fourball combinations. The final battle ground would be the order in which he sent out his singles.

Faldo was adamant that in hindsight he wouldn't have changed the line-up and that it had been done in consultation with the players.

"You do your best to put the 12 guys together. We talked about it. Obviously with them (Americans) being two points ahead, they can look in a different area to win. We've obviously got to make up those two points or hang onto their shirt-tails and not let them get away. And we literally got within one match from that happening. It was so close. It could have gone any way at any particular moment, and then it could have gone all the way to Padraig's (Harrington) match at the end."

The only alteration he would champion related to the gruelling build-up to the tournament, suggesting the packed daily schedule in the week of the event might need tweaking. The initial inquiries were gentle looseners as the questioning became more pointed.

Faldo was asked: "Since you became captain, many of your decisions have been criticised. In the wake of this defeat, you'll receive more criticism tomorrow no doubt from the British press. I wonder, do you care, and if not, why not?"

His players who sat alongside him on the dais, jumped to his defence, several volunteering to answer the question before Lee Westwood spoke, insisting: "No is the word you're (Faldo) looking for, I think. We hold the golf clubs and we hit the shots, not the captain. If you want to talk about me being rested Friday morning and Sergio being rested; that's the session we won, so Nick was right to do that. So you tell me whether Nick was right or wrong."

Garcia then grabbed centre stage to comment on the singles order. "At the end of the day, it comes down to playing well. If I would have played better and I would have won my match, maybe you would be talking and writing a different story. It has nothing to do with Nick. We are the guys that need to perform well on the course and we just need to be better than the guys we play. It's not his fault."

It still didn't satisfy the assembled media who once again focused on Faldo. One British journalist ventured: "You're being very gallant in defeat, but presumably it must hurt you on a personal level as a guy as immensely successful in his playing career that under your leadership the European team has changed from a winning team to a losing team; how hard is that for you to take personally?'

Before the European captain could answer his assistant, Jose Maria Olazabal, jumped in: "That question doesn't deserve an answer."

The Spaniard's anger was visible as he indulged in an exchange of words with the journalist who posed the question.

There were lighter moments notably when Westwood was asked to explain his comments in criticising some of the American fans. He smiled: "Did I tell you about the ghost? Should I tell you where it started at 12:30 on Saturday night when I got a phone call to my room to wish me good luck. Should we start there?"

Justin Rose laughed: "What, about 4:30 in your mom and dad's room?" Westwood again taking up the story. "Yeah, because they got the wrong hotel and rang the wrong Westwood room. I found that quite amusing. It upset my dad's preparation for walking around the course today.

"Of course it's true, and then there was the ghost that jumped out at me between five and six (holes) and went, 'Booooooo' right like that to my face. He was the one that got ejected, but he was the one that made me laugh.

"All of the abuse that I got was fairly nasty, and that was pretty shameful. That was only a minority, and the crowds were great. I expected them to get behind the American team, which they did, but some people don't know the difference between supporting their team and abusing the opposition team, which is unfortunate. I'm not prepared to repeat it. One was a particularly nasty reference to my mother on the 12th tee."

It had been a testing week for all concerned that ended in disappointment; the Europeans no doubt preferring to look forward rather than back.