Europe won the Ryder Cup 15-13 after a thrilling final day in New York which saw Team USA mount an unexpected comeback to threaten a historic turnaround at Bethpage Black.
There was no shortage of colour on Long Island, with both sets of fans suitably decked out in their team colours. While the home crowd naturally outnumbered the visitors considerably, the travelling contingent held their own, with the Olé, Olé, Olés rivalling the U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-As on parts of the course throughout the weekend.
Europe were razor-focused in their approach on Friday and Saturday for the morning foursomes and afternoon fourball sessions. Captain Luke Donald stuck to some tried-and-trusted Ryder Cup combinations, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood again partnering up for both foursomes, taking a point on both outings.
The role the crowd would play at Bethpage was much discussed in the run-up to this Ryder Cup, with Luke Donald doing extensive work with his team to prepare them for what was expected to be a hostile environment. A bit of good-natured ribbing is part of the experience, and the European players did their bit to have some fun with it.
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But things did get nasty, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry receiving the brunt of the crowd’s unsavoury attention. Tempers momentarily flared at points, but the European players largely let their clubs do the talking, using the abuse to fuel their charge.
When things got bad, the team nature of the Ryder Cup shone through, with playing partners stepping in for their team-mates. A number of fans had to be ejected at various points after crossing the line with their heckling, veering into outright abuse, and there was little respect paid to the players trying to line up their shots. Team USA largely didn’t feel inclined to attempt to quell the abuse, but there were some moments of sportsmanship on their part.
After a nightmare Friday and Saturday, trailing Europe 11½-4½ going into Sunday’s singles matches (brought to 12-5 on confirmation that Viktor Hovland was injured, seeing his match against Harris English halved), things were not looking good for Team USA. But facing an embarrassing home annihilation, Keegan Bradley’s men found strength in solitude, producing strong individual displays they simply hadn’t been able to muster during the paired sessions.
Bryson DeChambeau typified the USA’s final day mindset, coming back from five behind after seven holes against Matt Fitzpatrick to earn a half-point. He charged around Bethpage on Sunday like a man possessed, and the crowd were loving it.
Team Europe struggled. Despite getting off to early leads in many of the singles matchups, USA flipped a switch and suddenly Europe’s ‘Bloodbath at Bethpage’ was at risk of turning into their ‘Blunder at Bethpage’. Some of the visiting team’s seasoned veteran’s had luckless rounds, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Jon Rahm among those to lose their singles matches.
But cometh the hour, cometh the man. With Team USA having clawed their way back to trail 13½-10½ with three other games still in play, Shane Lowry made his way to the 18th green knowing a halved match against Russell Henley would see Europe retain the Ryder Cup. Needing to sink a six-yard putt under the grandstand, the Offaly man did the necessary and celebrated accordingly.
Lowry’s wonder putt brought Europe to the magic 14 to hold on to the Ryder Cup, given they were the holders from last time out in Rome, but to win the tournament outright they still needed a half-point.
The challenge fell to Rasmus Hojgaard, Tyrrell Hatton and Bob MacIntyre as the last three Europeans on the course. Hatton came good with a halved match against Collin Morikawa, MacIntyre doing the same against Sam Burns in the last just to be sure.
Questions were raised on Saturday over Keegan Bradley’s pairing decisions, but his side’s Sunday showing will likely abate some of the criticism headed his way. They will be left to wonder, however, what might have been had they not left themselves with such a mountain to climb heading into the final day.
For Europe, it was celebrations all round, and chants of ‘Two more years’ directed at captain Luke Donald.
Donald opted for a ‘no comment’ style response to questions whether he’d do it all over again, so perhaps we’ll be seeing him in Adare.
After a gruelling weekend, an emotional Rory McIlroy was the image of relief soaking in the celebrations with his team-mates. “We did what we needed to do and we’re going to celebrate like there’s no tomorrow,” he said. Mission accomplished.
