Team Europe won the Ryder Cup 15 to 13, despite a shaky Sunday singles session which almost saw USA stage the comeback of the century – and it didn’t take him long to give his team-mates their flowers
Rory McIlroy believes that all the credit for Team Europe’s Ryder Cup win needs to go to Luke Donald. The Northern Irishman was a part of Donald’s 12-player team at Bethpage Black this weekend, playing a major part in their 15-13 win in enemy territory.
However, the 36-year-old remained humble after clinching the title, claiming that Donald is the man who should take full responsibility for Europe’s success across the pond. Speaking to Sky Sports in the aftermath of the tournament, McIlroy said: “I’m extremely proud to be a part of this team.
“I’m extremely proud of every single one of the players, the VCs, the Captain, all the backroom support staff. This was an unbelievable collective effort.
READ MORE: Ryder Cup LIVE: Europe WIN Ryder Cup title as Hatton clinches vital half-pointREAD MORE: Europe retain Ryder Cup on dramatic final day after stirring USA comeback
“As soon as we won in Rome, we turned our attention to trying to do something that everyone thought was impossible – not just winning in America, but also winning here in New York. It’s just been an amazing week.”
He added: “To hear the Ole Oles here in America…honestly, to do something that a lot of people thought that we couldn’t do. The comments that people were saying after Whistling Straits about decades of American dominance.
“We took a lot from that, we let that fuel us. We got so lucky in getting an incredible leader in Luke Donald, and you know, he shepherded us through this whole process and he’s absolutely amazing.
“All of the credit has to go down to him, 11 out of 12 players from Rome came back, we knew what we needed to do and we’re going to celebrate like there’s no tomorrow.”
While McIlroy was unable to take anything from his singles match with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on Sunday, narrowly losing to the American One Down on the 18th, the Holywood-born PGA Tour pro thrived in the group games. Alongside Tommy Fleetwood, McIlroy managed a 5&4 win over Collin Morikawa and Harris English in Friday’s foursomes, before tying with Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay alongside Shane Lowry in the afternoon fourballs.
He then managed a 3&2 win over Morikawa and English in Saturday’s foursomes alongside Fleetwood, before snatching a Two Up win over Justin Thomas and Cameron Young in the afternoon’s fourballs. While Lowry retained the Ryder Cup on Sunday by taking a half-point from his match with Russell Henley, it was Tyrrell Hatton who won the title outright for Europe with a tie with Morikawa.
Yet the LIV Golf star was also incredibly humble in his celebrations, also crediting the behind-the-scenes team and Donald for the part they played. He said: “To be honest, it’s probably been one of the hardest days I’ve ever felt on a golf course.
“Going out number 10 of the 11 matches today obviously hoping that everything’s wrapped up, but you still want to take pride in your individual record and stuff. But, I mean, the US lads put up an incredible fight. It was going to be expected, they’re amazing players.
“Selfishly, I was kind of hoping that it wouldn’t have to come down to me and the last five, six, seven holes were horrible to be honest. But at the end of the day, I’m just so happy that we’ve been able to win.”
He added: “This is a special team, very fortunate to be a very small part of it. You have the 12 players and the caddies, and the vice captains and the captains, but there’s so many backroom staff that put so much effort into this and yeah.
“We’re a small part of a huge team and yeah this is my fourth one, and they’re the greatest golf weeks of your life.”