Farmingdale, NY – Rory McIlroy was nowhere to be found.
Two years after he called out the shot and predicted a victory at Beth Page Black, Shane Rawley’s birdie putt changed McIlroy’s comments from confidence to prophecy on the 18th Green Sunday. However, the celebration began without him.
The delighted Laurie bouncing off to the song of the very European crowd that serenaded him with the hymn. John Rahm hugged fellow Spaniard and vice-captain Jose Maria Olazabal – the captain of the final team to win the Road Cup in 2012 – cried out his shoulders. European Captain Luke Donald finally managed to exhale.
McIlroy lost his blockbuster single match against Scottie Scheffler 1-Down, and for some time it seemed plausible that he might be at the wrong end of the biggest collapse in Ryder Cup history. At 12-5, the US team made a comeback and made the Ryder Cup as close as anyone could have thought.
Suddenly, all the points became important. Suddenly, American fans were lively, chanting their teams and cheering on golfers rather than shaking Europeans. Suddenly, McIlroy had to rely on someone other than himself.
“It was obviously really tight at the end,” McIlroy said. “It’s a bit stressful.”
So McIlroy stayed on the course, bouncing between the Tyrrell Hatton match and Robert Macintyre, trying to add support with just a pure presence. Even when Laurie’s putt, who held the cup, fell, he remained there throughout the final match that gave him a European victory at the edge of the knife: 15-13.
“It’s good to be right. It’s not always right,” McIlroy said of his predictions. “When we won in Rome, I think the wheels were moving to try to do something that hasn’t been done for over a decade. We had a lot of faith in continuity.”
Apart from returning 11 of the 12 players from Rome, this European team has a certain unity, perhaps difficult to distill but easy to see. It’s not just a way for golfers to celebrate when they win holes or games, but also a way they react when they don’t. It’s obvious when the first place goes when you make an important putt. Even how they embrace it is clear that it projects a kind of intimacy that holds a brother’s brother in his arms rather than a business partner.
The PGA Tour, 72 Hole Stroke Play Golf requires enormous concentration and focus. It is a singular effort that requires more patience and consistency of reward than attack. They also do matchplay and alternative shot formats, but in the last two Ryder Cups it was revealed that Americans view these formats as obstacles to overcome with talent, while Europeans view them as an opportunity to introduce unity (14-2 with the four sharks in between). Team play is clearly their strength, something that allows them to compete for an insurmountable lead this week, and blow the red squirt of points that they scored or tied 11 of 12 singles matches on Sunday.
In almost every Ryder Cup over the past 12 years, the United States has retained its talent advantage. It was the 2021 Mouth Histling Strait and the dominant victory at Hazeltin in 2016. But even in the loss, Europeans have found Glimmers of Joy, part of this week’s view.
“The Ryder Cup week is the best week of our lives,” Donald said. “I think the weeks we spend together are the things we remember most and the things we cherish most for the time we spend with each other. That’s how most of my captains are creating an environment where these people have the best weeks of their lives.”
It’s easy to choke the great European performances into anything other than American controls throughout the first two days of this year’s event.
“They made more putts,” Keegan Bradley said many times.
“Luck was on their side,” Bryson Deccanbeau said Friday.
Maybe it’s that easy. But Europe has preached over and over again, proving that it is not the case. It requires as much chemistry as it takes data. It takes as much emotion as it requires talent and takes exactly exactly from the course.
“The level of professionalism he has shown us over the past four years,” John Rahm said of Donald. “His attention to detail…”
“His communication skills…” McIlroy added.
On Sunday, the cup was already in his hands, so Donald allowed him to peer into what some of it looked like. There is the fact that the European uniform was designed after what each of the past four teams who won in the away soil had worn, but that’s where things start.
Donald said the hotel room where the team is staying this week had a crack in the door, causing light to enter, and he patched it. He said that the only bedding in the room was sheets, so he changed it to make it more comfortable for players. He said they traded shampoo in the room for something with a better smell and better quality.
“Just taking the time and wanting to do everything possible will give these people the best opportunity,” Donald said. “You want to create an environment where they can succeed.”
Perhaps the greatest feat this particular European team has achieved is that under Donald, he has mastered the balance of preparation for the concrete.
“I feel like this power, the power of the group that knows what it is, the ability to lock in, the ability to want that a little more,” Justin Rose said when asked about being the best putter in the Ryder Cup on her second straight. “The answer to your question is honestly something I don’t know other than badges and boys. Honestly, the badges and boys are important.”
Late Sunday afternoon, with both retention and victory in hand, McIlroy finally ran in the sky on the 18th with a red face. For three days he enters the Long Island cauldron on missions, enduring it through heckles and shaming from American fans, then ready to own to European supporters who waited to chant his name.
“Rooooory! roooory!”
When the European won Medina in 2012, he was 21 years old and played in his second Ryder Cup. Well, here McIlroy was 36 years old, a Grand Slam champion and was at the heart of another away Victory like a perfect bookend.
“We always remember this. We always fall in history,” Donald said. “The future generations are about this team tonight, and what they did, and how they managed to overcome one of the toughest circumstances in all sports, and that’s what inspiring me.
When Donald finished his answer, sitting next to him, McIlroy wiped tears from his eyes.
