Ryder Cup: The key factors behind Europe’s away victory

Europe won the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black after holding off a brilliant fightback from the United States.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some factors in their 15-13 victory.

Luke Donald decisions

Europe’s captain earned his place among the competition’s greats after overseeing this success. He was brilliant two years ago, but to repeat the feat in the US was extraordinary. Again he left no stone unturned in his preparation and his wildcard picks, which resulted in a team containing 11 of the 12 that played in Rome, generally excelled. He also got most of the big calls right in terms of pairings, although things did get a little too close for comfort on Sunday.

Big players delivering

Donald put his faith in a core of senior players and they all delivered. Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Jon Rahm all came to the party over the first two days, securing crucial points that all but guaranteed victory. McIlroy, one of the greats of the modern game, was at his inspirational best and Fleetwood elevated his status yet further as he became the first European to win four points in pairs matches in the US. When they ran out of steam on Sunday, Matt Fitzpatrick – who also had a fine week – and Ludvig Aberg stepped up.

Handling the crowd

Donald was so sure that Europe would face an intimidating atmosphere that he made his players prepare for it by using virtual reality headsets to recreate the hostility. However, nothing could have truly readied the players for the abuse they received from a patriotic crowd that crossed the line. But, in the face of moronic personal insults, the European players let their golf do the talking. McIlroy in particular responded to constant taunts by delivering three-and-a-half points and, apart from a few interactions with the crowd, kept his cool admirably.

Bradley getting it wrong

As impressive as Donald was, his American counterpart Keegan Bradley was the opposite. Things went downhill from the moment he mixed up Justin Rose with Justin Leonard in his opening speech. His chest-thumping patriotism backfired over the first two days and some of his pairings were poorly thought out. To compound matters, he also admitted he had got the course set-up wrong with the lack of rough and soft greens playing into European hands.

Smells like team spirit

Donald has dedicated his life over the last four years to building a formidable team spirit and the continuity in the side clearly helped. That allowed Europe to build rock-solid partnerships for the foursomes and fourballs formats which worked so well together that Europe opened up a record 11.5-4.5 lead after the opening four sessions. Fleetwood and McIlroy extended their winning record from Rome with another two wins in the foursomes while Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton also delivered two points. In the fourballs, Fleetwood and Rose won both of their matches while Shane Lowry and McIlroy paired up to bring back one-and-a-half points.