Team Europe in hilarious Ryder Cup press conference: "We proved them wrong!"
European skipper Luke Donald and his team of 12 Ryder Cup stars reflected on their stunning 16.5-11.5 victory over Team USA in a hilarious press conference.
Luke Donald was serenaded with chants of 'two more years' by his European team after they emphatically beat Team USA 16.5 to 11.5 to win back the Ryder Cup.
Perhaps Rory McIlroy's posture said it all. He entered the media centre, cracked open a cold one and put his feet up.
Job done.
Europe won back the Ryder Cup on Sunday at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club to right the wrongs of two years ago when they were utterly destroyed 19-9.
This wasn't about revenge, McIlroy said. "This was about redemption and showing what we could do."
"I'm just so happy for these 12 guys, they gave everything this week," said captain Donald.
"Not many people gave us a chance, I don't think, especially two years ago. Yeah, well, we proved them wrong."
Banging the table, McIlroy roared: "Yes we did!"
Donald's side came into the Sunday singles with a five point lead. Saturday evening ended with the ugly scene of McIlroy being bundled into the back of a car by Shane Lowry as he lashed out at someone from Team USA over what he felt was 'disgraceful' behaviour in his match with Matthew Fitzpatrick against Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark.
Cantlay's caddie Joe LaCava, usually the bag man for 15-time major champion Tiger Woods, celebrated wildly on the 18th green after the American golfer sank a birdie putt from long range to pile the pressure on McIlroy and Fitzpatrick.
As far as McIlroy was concerned, he was ready to putt and LaCava should have ended his celebrations when asked.
It wasn't immediately clear who McIlroy was yelling at in the footage. Turns out it was Justin Thomas' caddie Jim 'Bones' MacKay.
"I text Bones this morning," McIlroy said alongside 11 of his teammates and Donald.
"He was the first American I saw after I got out of the locker room so he was the one that took the brunt of it. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I text Bones this morning and apologized for that.
"I was hot coming out of that yesterday. I was pretty angry. I didn't agree with what happened on 18, but I think I let it fuel the fire today and it focused me and I was able to go out there and get my point."
McIlroy said what he was saying was directed at LaCava but 'said to Bones'.
Lowry was the man to step in to diffuse the situation.
"He took me down to the cold plunge in the hotel and let me cool off there for a few minutes," McIlroy said, further adding that he was 'relieved' Lowry took matters into his own hands.
He added:
Onto more pressing matters.
Should Donald keep the captaincy? McIlroy started the chants: "Two more years! Two more years!"
"Listen guys," Donald said. "I want to enjoy this moment right now."
A voice shouted: "Come on!" Donald replied: "I haven't been asked yet."
Two more years, @LukeDonald #TeamEurope | #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/YmB5IOtt6m
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) October 1, 2023
It was Tommy Fleetwood who ultimately took Europe to the 14.5 points they needed to win back the Cup.
He drove the par-4 16th in his match against Rickie Fowler, who found the water when their contest was on a knife-edge and Team USA were mounting an unlikely comeback.
Fowler ended up conceding Fleetwood's birdie putt, which guaranteed Europe the half point they needed.
Had Fleetwood's match ended differently, it could've been up to Shane Lowry and Robert MacIntyre to get the job done.
"Myself and Tommy and Bob were in the locker room before we went out and we joked about hoping that it wasn't going to come down to our matches," Lowry said. "And I couldn't believe what we were seeing on the board, to be honest."
Lowry explained he worked out the situation in his head where it could've been him to have the chance to sink the winning putt.
"I knew he was 1UP playing 16, and I saw Rickie hit it in the water on 17, or on 16, and I thought if I could birdie 17, I was going to have a putt to win the Ryder Cup. That's what I was thinking. So selfishly I was thinking, you know, I'm going to have a putt to win the Ryder Cup. This is going to be amazing."
Sitting behind him, Fleetwood threw up his hands. The room erupted.
Just in front of Fleetwood was Justin Rose. Was this the last time we see him as a player?
Rose has been part of so many successful Ryder Cup sides. He decided not to go LIV.
What unites the team?
"We are united by a culture and we are united by a generation of players that have come before us. This is our time."
McIlroy had some thoughts: "For me, I think culture is huge. We take the piss out of each other. We have a sense of humour. We don't take ourselves too seriously. I think that's a big part of it, too. We feel like we can be ourselves. I can tell Tyrrell to do whatever and I can -- you know, whatever it may be, I'm just trying to look at people around me."
Rose joked Hatton's nickname is Rocky McIlroy.
Feet up for Rors. #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/ayzAaqiUeP
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) October 1, 2023
"He's the swear guy, not me," said McIlroy. "But if you ask Bones, he may say differently."
Rahm had been sitting quietly, but he too, had some thoughts: "Obviously I don't have as much experience in Ryder Cups as Rosey and Rory have but I think they mailed it.
"It's the ability to walk through those gates and those doors and forget about who you are outside of this week, what you have done or what you may do afterwards, really truly doesn't matter."
Spoken like a true Ryder Cupper.
Ryder Cup results 2023
Europe 16.5 - USA 11.5
Sunday singles:
Tied Jon Rahm vs. Scottie Scheffler
4&3 Viktor Hovland vs. Collin Morikawa
Justin Rose vs. Patrick Cantlay 2&1
3&1 Rory McIlroy vs. Sam Burns
Matt Fitzpatrick vs. Max Homa 1UP
3&2 Tyrrell Hatton vs. Brian Harman
Ludvig Aberg vs. Brooks Koepka 3&2
Sepp Straka vs. Justin Thomas 2UP
Nicolai Hojgaard vs. Xander Schauffele 3&2
Tied Shane Lowry vs. Jordan Spieth
3&1 Tommy Fleetwood vs. Rickie Fowler
2&1 Bob MacIntyre vs. Wyndham Clark
Saturday morning foursomes
2&1 McIlroy / Fleetwood vs. Thomas / Spieth
9&7 Hovland / Aberg vs. Scheffler / Koepka
Lowry / Straka vs Homa / Harman / Homa 4&2
2&1 Hatton / Rahm vs. Cantlay / Schauffele
Saturday afternoon fourballs:
Hovland / Aberg vs. Burns / Morikawa 4&3
Fleetwood / Hojgaard vs. Homa / Harman 2&1
3&2 Rose / MacIntyre vs. Thomas / Spieth
Fitzpatrick / McIlroy vs. Cantlay / Clark 1UP
Friday morning foursomes:
4&3 Rahm / Hatton vs. Scheffler / Burns
4&3 Hovland / Aberg vs. Homa / Harman
2&1 Lowry / Straka vs. Fowler / Morikawa
2&1 McIlroy / Fleetwood vs. Schauffele / Cantlay
Friday afternoon fourballs:
Tied: Hovland / Hatton vs. Thomas / Spieth
Tied: Rahm / Hovland vs. Scheffler / Kopeka
Tied: Rose / MacIntyre vs. Homa / Clark
5&3 McIlroy / Fitzpatrick vs. Morikawa / Schauffele
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