FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Masters champion Rory McIlroy stood on a bridge at Bethpage Black on Sunday, leading chants of “Olé, Olé, Olé!” with his arms raised and a European flag draped over his shoulders.
After taking the brunt of abuse from New York fans at the 45th Ryder Cup, McIlroy finally could breathe a sigh of relief that the week was over — and because the Europeans survived the Americans’ furious rally in singles Sunday to capture golf’s biggest prize again with a 15-13 victory.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry’s tie with Russell Henley in the eighth match gave the Europeans their 14th point, guaranteeing they would retain the Ryder Cup after they won in Italy two years ago.
Lowry made a 6-foot birdie on the 18th hole — after Henley left a 10-footer short — setting off a wild celebration for the visitors.
“I’ve been so lucky to experience amazing things in this game, but that was the hardest couple of hours of my whole life, honestly,” Lowry said. “I just can’t believe it. I can’t believe that ball went in. I stood over it going, ‘This is it.'”
After Lowry’s tie with Henley, England’s Tyrrell Hatton then tied Collin Morikawa in the 10th singles match, giving the Europeans the 14.5 points needed to win the Ryder Cup.
It was after the victory at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Rome that McIlroy boldly predicted the Europeans would capture the next Ryder Cup in America, where they hadn’t won since 2012.
“It’s nice to be right,” McIlroy said. “I’m not right all the time. I have absolute confidence in this team, absolute confidence in our leader, Luke Donald. The vice captains, the backroom staff, the things that people don’t see behind the scenes. I think we won in Rome, and the wheels were set in motion to try to do something that had not been done in over a decade.”
The Europeans have won 11 of the past 15 Ryder Cups, including five of the past 10 on U.S. soil.
Donald became only the second European captain to win back-to-back Ryder Cups, joining Tony Jacklin (1985, ’87).
“I knew it would be tough. I didn’t think they would be this tough on Sunday,” Donald said. “They fought so hard, and all the respect to them. But this means a lot obviously to me and the team. We came here knowing that the task was very difficult.”
The Europeans won only one singles match Sunday — Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg beat Patrick Cantlay 2 and 1 — the lowest total since Great Britain went 1-6-1 in 1957.
The Americans’ 8.5 points in singles were the most since 12 matches have been played.
But the U.S. team had dug itself too big of a hole in the first two days of competition.
“The Europeans won one match today,” U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said. “You think about the odds of something like that happening, just on a coin flip would be incredible. But when you go out in sports and you’re battling your butt off to win, it just shows you just how proud these guys are and how much they want this and how much this means to them.”
After dominating the first four pairing sessions and taking a 12-5 lead into singles, the Europeans needed only two points to retain the Cup — and the Americans made them work hard for both.
“We were talking with the vice captains last night when everyone went to bed that the team really believed they could win,” Bradley said. “Like, I was honestly pretty surprised. I was on a team that got smoked, and we did not have that feeling.
“When we went to bed, I was just astonished at how these guys were like, ‘We’re going to win this,’ and they believed it. They weren’t just saying it. I could see the belief in their eyes. I could see it this morning. I could see their body language. Like these guys, they weren’t moping around. They were ready to go out and win and play their hardest, and they did that.”
The U.S. won five of the first six matches and tied another to finally put pressure on the Europeans.
Scottie Scheffler, who was in danger of becoming the first American golfer to go 0-5 in the event, picked up his first point when he defeated McIlroy 1 up in the first match between golfers ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the world.
“Battled really hard yesterday and the first day,” Scheffler said. “Things just did not work out the way I anticipated, but I was proud to be able to get a point today. It’s tough; playing all five matches is a grind. Rory and I even chatted about that a little bit today. It was a grind, and I’m pretty tired, but I’m proud of the fight that our team showed.”
Bryson DeChambeau was 5 down to England’s Matt Fitzpatrick after seven holes but rallied to tie the match with four straight birdies.
Ryder Cup rookie Cameron Young, a New York native who set the Bethpage Black scoring record as a 20-year-old, picked up the Americans’ first point when he defeated England’s Justin Rose 1 up in the first match. Young was 3 up after 12 holes, but Rose won three of the next four holes to tie the match. After Rose missed a 14-foot birdie try on No. 18, Young made a 12-footer to win, cutting the Europeans’ lead to 12-6.
Two-time major champion Xander Schauffele then took down Spain’s Jon Rahm, a thorn in the Americans’ side all week, in a 4-and-3 victory that made it 12-7.
Justin Thomas provided the spark that made the Americans believe they might have a chance to come back when he sank a 12-foot birdie on the 18th hole to take down England’s Tommy Fleetwood 1 up. That trimmed the Europeans’ advantage to 12-8.
Aberg’s win over Cantlay moved the Europeans within a half-point of victory, leading to Lowry’s clutch effort on No. 18.
The Americans picked up a half-point even before the singles matches started when Norway’s Viktor Hovland was forced to pull out of the Ryder Cup because of a neck injury. He was scheduled to play in the anchor match against Harris English.
The substitution rule in the captains’ agreement requires each team to submit the name of one player in a sealed envelope who wouldn’t play in the case of an injury to a golfer on the opposing team. It happened to be English, who had to watch the action Sunday.