Team Europe have won the Ryder Cup after surviving an almighty scare from Team USA in a dramatic day of Sunday singles.
Going into the final day, Europe held a record seven points lead (11.5-4.5) after dominating play on Friday and Saturday.
That meant they just needed three points from 12 matches on Sunday for victory.
However, Europe only just managed the feat as the hosts fought back at a raucous Bethpage Black in New York.
In the end Europe won 15-13 overall with Ludvig Aberg the only European to win his match, while six Americans won theirs.
Shane Lowry retains the Ryder Cup for Europe
The US needed 10 points to regain the trophy. No side had ever won more than 8.5 from the 12 singles matches.
That feat was made harder when Europe announced Viktor Hovland was unable to play due to a neck injury. Ryder Cup rules dictate that one US player also sits out and each team gets a half point – therefore making the scoreline 12-5 before a match had been played. In this case for the hosts it was Harris English who didn’t play as a result of Hovland’s injury withdrawal.
And it looked like the unthinkable could be achieved when USA shrunk the deficit to 12-8 after Cam Young and Justin Thomas won the opening two matches. Bryson DeChambeau then finished all square with Matt Fitzpatrick before Scottie Scheffler beat Rory McIlroy.
USA’s dominance was halted temporarily, when Aberg defeat Patrick Cantlay to make it 13.5-9.5 Europe, but red soon appeared on the board through Xander Schauffele and JJ Spaun to make it 13.5-11.5.
Europe were still in search for the 0.5 needed to retain the Ryder Cup they won in 2023, and Lowry proved to be that hero. Lowry birdied the 15th to reduce his deficit in his match with Russell Henley to one down and they became the fifth match to head down 18.
On the final hole, both were putting for birdie but Henley misses his, allowing Lowry to win the hole and halve the match from eight feet. With so much pressure on his shoulders, he withstood to sink his putt and see Europe retain the Ryder Cup and sparking pandemonium.
Tyrell Hatton wins the Ryder Cup for Europe
With Europe now leading 14-11, they wanted to complete the job and win the Ryder Cup outright again with 14.5 points needed.
Again though the Americans continued to show some fight with Ben Griffin beating Rasmus Hojgaard to make it 14-12.
Tyrell Hatton clinched victory for Europe though as he capitalised on Collin Morikawa’s missed birdie putt on the 18th to earn the 0.5 point needed.
Scotland’s MacIntyre brought up the rear and won the final hole with a par to snatch a half point against Burns. 15-13.
It also meant the US had remarkably matched the Ryder Cup record of 8.5 points in the singles but all the celebrations were blue – just like they were two years ago.
