Luke Donald cemented himself as arguably Europe’s greatest ever Ryder Cup captain by overseeing victory at Bethpage Black on Sunday.
Europe had played so well over the first two days in New York that the question heading into the singles concerned whether they would set a new record for the largest victory in the Ryder Cup since 1979.
However, Team USA ended up giving them more than a good scare having begun the day seven points behind.
Remarkably, Ludvig Aberg was the only European to win a full point. Keegan Bradley‘s side won six of the top nine matches.
Unsurprisingly, the calls for Luke Donald to stay on for 2027 have already begun.
Luke Donald’s decision on Saturday at Bethpage very nearly cost Europe the Ryder Cup
It is clear that the players have an incredible amount of belief in Donald. And in truth, the plan could have hardly gone better over the first two days in New York. That was why there seemed to be absolutely no chance of a comeback even bigger than Medinah or Brookline.
The Americans ended up winning as many points on Sunday as Ben Crenshaw’s men in 1999 and the Europeans 13 years later. But they had just left themselves with too much to do.
However, all it would have taken was for a couple of the tied matches to end differently for the greatest sporting fightback of all-time to take place.
With that, it is surely fair to say that a gamble Donald took on Saturday very nearly backfired and cost Europe the cup.
Team USA needed a fast start on the second day after being outplayed on Friday. However, Europe were just as impressive in the second foursomes session. They took themselves to within six points of victory after just 12 matches.
Donald made the call to keep the foot on the accelerator. Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm were all sent out in the afternoon, ensuring that they would play all five sessions.
McIlroy and Fleetwood were victorious in their respective fourball matches on Saturday. Rahm lost alongside Sepp Straka.
McIlroy and Fleetwood, in particular, looked exhausted after their wins.
McIlroy had dealt with a frightening amount of abuse from some of the fans throughout the day. And it seemed that a handful of people outside the ropes were more determined to upset the Northern Irishman than to see Justin Thomas and Cameron Young win.
There was still no complacency from Donald heading into the singles. Fleetwood, McIlroy and Rahm found themselves in the top six in the lineup.
However, it appeared that they – along with Justin Rose in the top match – had nothing left in the tank.
Fleetwood was beaten by Thomas, McIlroy lost an anticlimactic match with Scottie Scheffler, and Rahm suffered the heaviest loss of the day to Xander Schauffele.
That piled the pressure on the likes of Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton to get something from their matches.
Just one European has won all five matches they have played in Ryder Cup history
There is a reason that Francesco Molinari is the only European to win five points in a single Ryder Cup. It is clearly unbelievably difficult to keep the intensity up for five matches.
It was even harder for Donald’s key trio, with Molinari managing it on home soil in 2018. Playing five matches in that atmosphere at Bethpage must have been agony in many ways.
Donald’s decision was understandable. Saturday afternoon felt like the Americans’ last chance to get themselves back into the contest.
And he only had to look to his opposite captain for what can happen when an in-form player is rested. It is hard not to think that the USA would have won in 2012 had Davis Love III simply sent Phil Mickelson and Bradley out for a fourth session in Chicago. The pair had been sensational that week.
But had Rasmus Hojgaard replaced Rahm in the match with Schauffele and J.J. Spaun on the second afternoon – a match Europe lost on the 18th anyway – the Spaniard would have been able to get a much-needed rest.
Europe were not complacent on Sunday at Bethpage. There was no showboating before they got across the line.
Their biggest players simply found it too difficult to go to the well one more time after giving so much to take Europe to the brink of sporting immortality, as Paul McGinley noted on McGinley & Chamblee.
“Fatigue was certainly a factor and it’s something we are going to look at closely in our debrief. More emotion, they are all fit as hell, but particularly emotion away from home,” he said.
“The amount of energy that Rory in particular had to expend dealing the crowd, let alone hitting golf shots, there was not a lot left in the tank for all three today and their golf showed it.”
Donald’s captaincy has been so impressive that if he does decide to stay on for 2027, it is hard to imagine he will ask any three of his players to feature in all five sessions at Adare Manor.
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