Staked to the largest lead in history, Europe fully expected to win the Ryder Cup on Sunday. The surprise was how much emotion poured out of the team on a final day that produced a furious American charge and, ultimately, another Irish hero.
What looked to be only a matter of time before the European celebration was on turned into nervous glances at the scorecard as the unruly crowd at Bethpage Black finally had a U.S. team to cheer for instead of against.
It went from looking impossible to improbable to just maybe.
And then Shane Lowry, who endured so much abuse from a hostile and vulgar New York crowd, had the last word. He holed a 6-foot birdie putt against Russell Henley to earn the half-point Europe needed to make sure it kept that 17-inch gold chalice.
He couldn't contain himself, pumping his fists and spinning around the green and squeezing every teammate he could find. He recalled telling his caddie as they walked up the 18th fairway, "I have a chance to do the coolest thing in my life here."
Ditto for all of Europe. Even a closer call than imagined did not take away from a reminder who dominates these matches. Europe has won 11 times in the last 14 Ryder Cups, and this was its fifth time winning on U.S. soil in the last 10 tries.
"They'll be talking about this team for a long time," Luke Donald said after joining Tony Jacklin (1985 and 1987) as the only European captains to win back to back.
Tyrrell Hatton, the only player to go unbeaten for the week, earned a halve against Collin Morikawa that made Europe an outright winner.
The final score — Europe 15, United States 13 — was the only real surprise.
"Shoutout to the Americans," Donald said, his players draped in flags of their home countries. "We knew they'd be
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