Despite forming part of a beaten European team and in a sentiment that will be widely shared, Rory McIlroy has suggested a Ryder Cup win for the USA at Hazeltine was a positive outcome for the future of the event. The USA saw off Europe by 17 points to 11, thereby sealing their first success in four attempts and only a second Ryder Cup win in nine.
“It is disappointing obviously,” said the world No3, who lost by a hole to Patrick Reed in the singles on Sunday. “But I think it’s good for golf. It keeps the Ryder Cup interesting going into France in a couple of years’ time. It just gives us that little, not that we need any more incentive, but we’re going to want to get it back on our home turf next time.
“It does hurt. We would definitely like to be feeling what the Americans are feeling right now but saying that, they haven’t felt this for a while. It’s been eight years since they felt this feeling. They deserve it. They deserve their moment. We’ll come back better and stronger in Paris. It’s disappointing for us as a team and for me personally, taking on the role to go out and put a blue point on the board. I didn’t do my job.
“America came in as the favourites and justifiably so, especially on home turf. We came here in front of a tough crowd and we gave it our all. We put up a great fight and at the end it just wasn’t enough.”
McIlroy described Darren Clarke’s captaincy, even after the biggest defeat in 35 years, as “absolutely phenomenal”. The four-time major winner said: “I cannot praise him enough for the job he’s done this week. It’s been absolutely incredible.
“He’s been first-class all the way through, he involved everyone. The little details he got so right. I know he’s put his heart and soul into this for 18 months. I wish we could have got the win for him but he’s been a fantastic captain regardless. I feel very proud to have played under him.”
Davis Love III, who led the USA victory, said the reversal in fortunes owed everything to a united attitude. “I’m just proud of these guys,” he said. “They had a lot of pressure on them for the last two years.
“Every time we picked a guy there was more and more pressure on the team and more and more questions and I’m just proud the way every one of them played. It was a great team effort. I’ve never seen a team come together like a family like this.
“We had been criticised for years for not coming together. Our team really rallied and played, and beat, one of the best teams ever.”
Tiger Woods, one of Love’s vice-captains, refused to differentiate between this win and his individual successes. “Whether I was playing or not, I was part of a team,” the 14-time major winner said. “I take pride in the work I do out there. This is no exception.”
