FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Rory McIlroy was nowhere to be discovered.

Two years after he had referred to as his shot and predicted a win at Bethpage Black, Shane Lowry’s birdie putt on the 18th inexperienced Sunday reworked McIlroy’s feedback from assured to prophetic. The celebration, nonetheless, had began with out him.

A gleeful Lowry bounced to the tune of a closely European crowd that serenaded him with chants. Jon Rahm hugged fellow Spaniard and vice captain José María Olazábal — captain of the final workforce to win a street cup in 2012 — who cried on his shoulder. European captain Luke Donald was lastly capable of exhale.

McIlroy had misplaced his blockbuster singles match towards Scottie Scheffler 1-down and for a second, the prospect of being on the improper finish of the largest collapse in Ryder Cup historical past appeared believable. Down 12-5, the US workforce had mounted a comeback and made the Ryder Cup as shut as everybody thought it may very well be.

Immediately, each level mattered. Immediately, the US followers had come alive, chanting for his or her workforce and cheering on its golfers somewhat than jeering on the Europeans. Immediately, McIlroy needed to depend on anybody however himself.

“It clearly was actually tight there on the finish,” McIlroy stated. “It was a bit aggravating.”

So McIlroy stayed out on the course, bouncing between Tyrrell Hatton’s match and Robert MacIntyre’s, making an attempt so as to add help with sheer presence alone. Even when Lowry’s putt that retained the cup dropped, he remained on the market by the ultimate match that gave Europe victory on a knife’s edge: 15-13.

“It’s good to be proper. I’m not proper on a regular basis,” McIlroy stated of his prediction. “I feel once we gained in Rome, the wheels have been set in movement to attempt to do one thing that had not been completed in over a decade. We believed so much in our continuity.”

Past returning 11 of 12 gamers from Rome, there’s a sure cohesion with this European workforce that’s maybe tough to distill however straightforward to see. It’s there in the way in which the golfers rejoice after they win a gap or a match, but in addition in the way in which they reply after they don’t. It’s palpable when the primary place they go to upon making an important putt is to relish within the second with their companion. It’s evident when even the way in which they embrace initiatives a sort of closeness that doesn’t sign enterprise companion however somewhat brother in arms.

PGA Tour, 72-hole stroke play golf requires an immense quantity of focus and focus. It’s a singular endeavor that calls for persistence and rewards consistency greater than aggression. Match play and alternate shot format do too, however over the previous two Ryder Cups, it has change into clear that whereas the Individuals view these codecs as obstacles to beat with expertise, the Europeans see it as a possibility to showcase their unity (they’re 14-2 in foursomes over that point). Crew play is, unequivocally, their power and what allowed them to each race out to an insurmountable lead this week and in addition stem the pink tide of factors that gained or tied 11 of 12 singles matches Sunday.

In almost each Ryder Cup over the previous 12 years, the US has held the expertise benefit. It’s what has led to dominant wins at Whistling Straits in 2021 and Hazeltine in 2016. However even in losses, Europeans discovered glimmers of pleasure, partly due to the way in which they view this week.

“Ryder Cup weeks are the very best weeks of our lives,” Donald stated. “I feel these weeks we spend collectively are those we keep in mind probably the most and those we cherish probably the most due to the time we get to spend with one another. That’s an enormous a part of my captaincy is to create an atmosphere the place these guys are having the very best weeks of their lives, actually.”

It’s straightforward to chalk up the European’s gorgeous efficiency by the primary two days of this 12 months’s occasion to issues outdoors of the American’s management.

“They made extra putts.” Keegan Bradley stated a number of occasions.

“Luck was on their aspect,” Bryson DeChambeau stated Friday.

Perhaps it’s that straightforward. However again and again, Europe has preached and proved that it’s not. That it takes chemistry as a lot because it takes information. That it takes emotion as a lot because it takes expertise and that it takes precision off the course as a lot as on it.

“The extent of professionalism he’s proven us the final 4 years,” Jon Rahm stated of Donald. “His consideration to element …”

“His communication expertise …” McIlroy added.

On Sunday, with the cup already in his fingers, Donald allowed a peek into simply what a few of that appears like. There’s the truth that the European uniforms have been designed after what every of the previous 4 groups that gained on away soil wore, however that’s simply the place issues start.

Donald stated the resort room the place the workforce is staying this week had cracks within the doorways that permit mild in in order that they patched them up. He stated that the bedding within the rooms solely had sheets in order that they modified it to make it extra snug for gamers. He stated they swapped out the shampoo within the rooms for one with higher scent and higher high quality.

“It’s simply taking the time and having the care that you just wish to do all the pieces you’ll be able to to sort of give these guys the very best alternative,” Donald stated. “You wish to create an atmosphere the place they will succeed.”

Maybe the best feat this explicit European workforce has achieved is that, underneath Donald, they’ve mastered the steadiness between getting ready for what’s tangible — be it actual pairings, mattress sheets, time zone variations or nailing down what ability the venue requires — whereas perfecting the intangible.

“I really feel like the ability of this, the ability of the group, who is aware of what it’s, that capability to lock in, the flexibility to simply need it that little bit extra,” Justin Rose stated when requested about being the very best putter within the Ryder Cup for the second straight time. “The reply to your query is I don’t know, apart from the badge and the boys, actually. That’s all that issues, actually, the badge and the boys.”

Late Sunday afternoon, with each retention and victory in hand, McIlroy lastly made the climb up the 18th, red-faced and operating on empty. For 3 days, he had entered the cauldron of Lengthy Island on a mission, endured it by heckles and insults from American followers, and emerged from it vindicated and victorious, able to be drowned by a large number of European supporters who had been ready to chant his title.

“Roooooory! Roooooory!”

When the Europeans gained at Medinah in 2012, he was solely 21 years previous, enjoying in his second Ryder Cup. Now, right here McIlroy was 36, a Grand Slam champion and on the middle of one other away victory like an ideal bookend.

“We’ll at all times keep in mind this. We’ll at all times go down in historical past,” Donald stated. “Future generations will speak about this workforce tonight and what they did and the way they have been capable of overcome one of many hardest environments in all of sport and that’s what’s inspiring to me, that’s what Rory will get and all these different 11 guys get, as nicely.”

As Donald completed his reply, sitting subsequent to him, McIlroy wiped the tears from his eyes.