A woeful start at Hazeltine left Europe 4-0 down after Friday's foursomes and they never recovered to take the lead in the tournament.
It left Clarke needing another miracle like the one he contributed to as a vice-captain at Medinah in 2012 and, despite comfortably winning three of the first five matches out, it was all downhill from there.
It was left to Ryan Moore to pick up the winning point to spark wild celebrations among Davis Love III's team and the raucous home fans.
