In the words of Coldplay’s Chris Martin, “nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be this hard.”
But that’s not strictly true. Taking an 11.5 – 4.5 lead into the final day, most thought it WOULD be easy, and most were wrong.
It was a Ryder Cup that simmered but never actually hit boiling point – inside the ropes, at least – for the first four sessions, such was the one-sided nature of it, but that all changed on Sunday.
From a seemingly unassailable position, the Europeans found themselves needing to snatch victory, not quite from the jaws of defeat, but from the tip of the fork.
Even before the opening tee shots were hit, the three points needed to reach the all-important 14.5 mark had been reduced to two-and-a-half as Viktor Hovland was forced to withdraw from his singles match having failed to recover from the neck injury that kept him from playing in Saturday afternoon’s fourball session.
This invoked the ‘Envelope Rule’ – a rule that sees both captains place a name in an envelope and in the case of an injury withdrawal, the person named from the opposing team sits out – and Harris English was the unfortunate man who would have to watch from the sidelines in the U.S. ranks.
Both captains top-loaded their sides, knowing that the first few matches would set the tone for the day, and so it proved.
Cameron Young and Justin Rose, Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood, and Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Fitzpatrick all had epic encounters that saw healthy leads reeled in and went all the way to the 18th hole. Young and Thomas both sank match-winning putts on that final hole, and DeChambeau’s recovery from 5DOWN to earn a half-point was exactly the start the United States team were looking for.
Scottie Scheffler edged Rory McIlroy 1UP in match number four, and suddenly, it was 12.5 – 8.5 and only Ludvig Åberg led for Europe in the matches below.
The grandstand final day finish that seemed a mere pipedream a few hours before was very much on and the outright winner very much up for grabs.
Åberg closed out a 2&1 win over Patrick Cantlay to put Europe within a half-point of retaining the cup, but Jon Rahm had run out of steam and fallen 4&3 to Xander Schauffele and J.J. Spaun had taken out Sepp Straka, leaving four matches on the course.
In match number eight, Shane Lowry and Russell Henley traded the advantage back and forth but back-to-back wins on 13 and 14 put the American two ahead. On Saturday afternoon, Lowry proved his mettle in the cauldron alongside Rory McIlroy, and he did so again over the closing four holes. Superb shots into the 15th and 16th offered tap-in birdies but only reduced the deficit by one as Henley holed a 15-footer of his own. A clutch two-putt from distance on 17 was enough to take Lowry down the last.
Lowry split the fairway while Henley pulled his tee shot left into the bunker. The American then piled the pressure on the Offalyman by producing one of the best shots of his career, given the situation, and stuck it to 10 feet, but Lowry wasn’t going down without a fight. He wedged to eight feet and when Henley inexplicably left his putt short, Lowry had a putt to ensure that the Ryder Cup would be going back across the Atlantic.
He’d later admit that it was the hardest couple of hours of his whole life, but that he’s said to caddie Darren Reynolds walking down the final fairway that he had a chance to do the coolest thing in his life.
Lowry’s celebration when winning the Irish Open as an amateur back in 2009 was wild, the six-shot lead he enjoyed at Portrush made it a little more sedate, but it’s doubtful we’ll ever see him as jubilant as he was when the putt dropped.
WOW WOW WOW #TeamEurope | #OurTimeOurPlace pic.twitter.com/OdC5TTHL73
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 28, 2025
The retention secured, now it was a case of winning it.
To highlight how close this Ryder Cup actually was at the end, all three of the remaining matches went to the 18th.
Ben Griffin edged Rasmus Hojgaard, but Tyrrell Hatton and Collin Morikawa halved the 18th to finish all-square, securing the victory.
For good measure, in the anchor match, Bob MacIntyre won the 18th hole to secure another half-point with Sam Burns, bringing the final score to 15 – 13, and bringing down the curtain on a Ryder Cup Sunday that will live long in the memory.
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