Two years ago, sitting on a media podium after Team Europe wrestled back the Ryder Cup at Rome’s Marco Simone, Rory McIlroy made a bold prediction. Maybe it was more of a promise.
“I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen,” he said. “I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup, and that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.”
He is well-versed in big, tough accomplishments — after all, he ended his Augusta National hoodoo this year and completed a long-awaited career grand slam — but his comments rang true on Sunday as Europe avoided a major collapse to retain the Ryder Cup with a 15-13 margin.
– Uggetti from Bethpage: How Europe backed up McIlroy’s words- Best Ryder Cup moments from Sunday singles- Final scoreboard, results after Europe win
This year’s tournament at Bethpage Black will be remembered for many reasons. It was one of the rowdiest Ryder Cups in living memory and perhaps one of the best in terms of quality.
“Not just win here in America, but in New York,” McIlory said on Sunday. “When you think about the last away Ryder Cup, about what people were saying about decades of American dominance, whether it was home for them or away, and to be able to do what we’ve done in Rome and then here, it shut a lot of people up.”
But how does Team Europe’s latest victory compare to those that came before?
How does Europe’s winning margin compare?
On Saturday night, as the sun set on Bethpage, you’d be forgiven for thinking history was in the making. It had been a magical two days for Team Europe, with every U.S. question being hit with an emphatic European answer.
Colin Morikawa hits it to within 5 ft on No. 11? McIlroy stepped up and stopped his ball within 18 inches. Russell Henley found the green on the eighth while Rob McIntyre’s ball rolled into the fringe? Viktor Hovland rolled in the birdie putt anyway, while the U.S. missed. Bryson DeChambeau makes an 11-footer for birdie on No. 15? Justin Rose stepped up after he controversially asked DeChambeau’s caddy to move and then drilled a 15-footer of his own.
Entering the final day, the most common question on everyone’s lips at Bethpage was by how much the Europeans would win by?
It was a fair question. Their seven-point lead entering the singles was the largest of any road team in cup history — the last time that any team had such a commanding lead at that stage was the 1976 home U.S. team.
Things didn’t quite play out as expected on Sunday, though. The U.S. mounted a spirited fightback and at one point had a genuine claim at performing the biggest comeback in the tournament’s history. In contrast to the opening two days, Europe won just one singles match — Ludvig Åberg defeated Patrick Cantlay 2&1 — the lowest total since the team was called Great Britain in 1959.
In fact, this ended up being the closest-fought Ryder Cup since the “Miracle at Medinah” in 2012. Each of the last five editions was decided by at least five points.
Europe never managed to touch the tournament’s biggest-ever winning margin (in its current format) from 2021 when the U.S. won 19-9 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
Which Europeans performed best this weekend?
There were plenty of performances to be proud of for captain Donald.
In terms of results, Tyrrell Hatton (3-0-1) and Shane Lowry (1-0-2) were the only players to avoid a loss this weekend. Lowry, whose Sunday putt on No. 18 retained the Ryder Cup, had the second-most total strokes gained, per Data Golf.
However, it was Fleetwood (4-1-0) who won the most matches — his lone defeat came against Justin Thomas in the singles. He picked up the Nicklaus and Jacklin award — named after greats Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin — which is awarded to the golfer who best embodies the spirit of the event.
“When you play in a team event like this, you don’t necessarily set out to win individual awards, but to focus on playing the right way and make the right decisions when it matters most,” Fleetwood said. “But to be acknowledged like this, winning an award that is named after such legends as Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin and in some way follow in their footsteps, is very cool.”
Still, he was slightly short of the five previous players that have won all five games at the Ryder Cup (most recently Dustin Johnson in 2021.)
Meanwhile, Rose had a Ryder Cup to remember, too. He was second to teammate Sepp Straka in putting this week — per Data Golf, he managed 3.28 strokes gained on the greens.
When asked why he has putted so well at Ryder Cups, Rose said: “I wish I knew … Today, if I’m honest, I felt like I didn’t putt as well, but you kind of live and die by the putter in match play.
“There’s always momentum swings with the putter … There’s a lot of pressure on the putter. The putter is a huge key, and obviously the way the golf course was set up this week, as well, the putter was a very, very key club in the bag.”
How rare is Luke Donald’s achievement?
There was a time when Team Europe captains would routinely return for back-to-back appearances. At the start of the modern Ryder Cup era, between 1979 and 1995, Europe had only three different captains: John Jacobs, Tony Jacklin and Bernard Gallacher. That’s nine tournaments split between three different captains.
Since then, Team Europe had never had a repeat captain… until Donald. His achievement — leading his side to back-to-back Ryder Cups — makes him only the second European captain to be a repeat champion after Jacklin (1985, 1987).
“It’s been the most stressful 12 hours in my life … I didn’t think they [the U.S.] would be this tough on Sunday, they fought so hard, and all the respect to them,” Donald said. “But this means a lot obviously to me and the team.
“We came here knowing that the task was very difficult. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys and what they have done through, how they have come together, how they are playing for history, how they are playing for the people that came before them, and now there will be talk for generations to come as someone going down in history. Couldn’t be more proud.”
