Team Europe beat Team USA to win the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, and victorious captain Luke Donald could not be prouder after a stressful Sunday singles session
Luke Donald has dubbed the Ryder Cup singles session the most stressful 12 hours of his life after Team Europe narrowly beat Team USA at Bethpage Black. Ludvig Aberg was the only European player to win their match as they won 15-13 thanks to half points from Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland.
The stress started less than an hour before the session began, with Viktor Hovland withdrawing due to a neck injury. That gave each team another half point, moving Europe just two points away from retaining the title they won in Rome two years ago and two-and-a-half from outright victory.
After the first four sessions, they needed all those points they stretched their lead to from the foursomes and four-ball sessions on Friday and Saturday. Donald acknowledged that the team did not think Sunday would be as tough as it was.
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“It’s got to have been the most stressful 12 hours of my life,” the European captain said to Sky Sports. “Shout out to the Americans, and Keegan [Bradley] and his captaincy.
“We knew they’d be tough, but I didn’t think they’d be this tough. On Sunday, they fought so hard, and all the respect to them.
But this means a lot to me and the team, we came here knowing that the task would be very difficult. Couldn’t be prouder of these guys, what they’ve gone through, how they come together.
“How they’re playing for history, how they’re playing for the people that come before them. And they’ll be talked about for generations to come as something that will go down in history, and I couldn’t be more proud.”
Team USA captain Bradley added, “They’re a tough group, and we didn’t play our best the first couple of days. We did today. That was a really fun day. We had all of our fun in one day here at Bethpage.”