LOUISVILLE, Ky. --- Golf needed this. The Ryder Cup needed this. Americans needed this.

From the songs and chants on the first tee to the champagne and beer showers overlooking the 18th green, the 37th Ryder Cup got the competitive jolt it desperately craved on American turf.

The biennial match-play event between the United States and Europe had been teetering on the brink of tedium as the Americans struggled to figure out why they kept losing. All it took was some brilliant play from a most unlikely cast of characters to turn that all around.

A brash California kid, two native Kentucky sons and a man named Boo injected whatever was necessary for the United States to wrest the Ryder Cup from the firm clutches of the increasingly confident Europeans. In a contest that swayed to and fro for three days, the needle pointed to the Americans for the first time in nine long years with a conceded putt to Jim Furyk.

But the legacy of this Ryder Cup will be more than the 161/2 to 111/2 final score or the golf heroes it created in Anthony Kim, J.B. Holmes, Kenny Perry, Boo Weekley, Ian Poulter, Robert Karlsson and Graeme McDowell. It was the event that was elevated again to its proper place in the pantheon of great sporting events.

The Ryder Cup is a singular event that raises goose-bumps just by being around it. The pressure on millionaire players competing only for national and continental pride is excruciating. But it's the most fun they'll ever have in their careers.

Why? Because of the atmosphere. There is nothing in golf like it. There are few things in sports like it. No major championship can match up. The few who don't appreciate the general lack of traditional golf decorum once every other year are truly missing the beauty of it.

The first tee at Valhalla was pulsating for hours before the first ball of singles play was struck Sunday. American and European fans were gripped in a spirited battle of vocal one-up-manship.

"You've got Big Macs; we've got G-Mac!" shouted the Euros for their latest favorite Northern Irishman.

"Go way, go way, go-way-go-way-go-way!" came the American mock rendition of the traditional Ole! rally chant.

Just walking into the arena with an unfortunate choice of attire could be embarrassing.

"NASCAR shirt guy!" chanted one bleachers. "You got dressed up in the dark" sang the other.

"My whole life I always wanted to play in front of a stadium atmosphere," said England's Oliver Wilson, a former Augusta State golfer. "I really didn't think it would ever be like that. It was incredible. The U.S. fans really need to learn some proper football songs. But the songs they were singing was a big part of what made it special."

So was the competition. In the middle of the greatest fan spectacle in golf that includes everything from costumed leprechauns, beefeaters, matadors, highlanders, penguins (huh?) to camouflaged Boo-backers, it's the play that resonates. And the play over the past three days at Valhalla was nothing short of spectacular.

Unknowns became heroes. Superstars became victims. Rookies became seasoned veterans.

As they sprayed champagne all over one another and a beer over the head of Boo Weekley, the question seemed obvious. How did this rag-tag collection of Tiger-less underdogs turn the Ryder Cup into an American celebration?

"I knew I had 12 gamers," said U.S. captain Paul Azinger.

After three losses in a row, including the last two by record margins, Azinger was given carte blanche to make whatever changes he felt necessary to turn the tide.

Azinger jiggered the qualification system to base it heavily on single-season performance. He gave himself two extra captain's picks and three extra weeks to choose them to get the hottest players. He flopped the order of team formats to shake things up. He ignited the fans with pep rallies and sent out popular local favorites in every session.

Was it the new selection system? The home-field advantage? The captain's strategies? The new blood?

Certainly all of those things played a part. But what it ultimately came down to is what it always comes down to -- performance.

The Europeans have owned the Ryder Cup thanks to a series of spectacular performances by their great players. This time the Americans answered every blow with something spectacular of their own.

"Every time we did something they did something on top of us," Sergio Garcia said.

That's what the Ryder Cup is all about.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.