An emotional Shane Lowry hailed his putt to retain the Ryder Cup for Europe as the greatest achievement of his life.
Ireland’s 2019 Open winner wrote his name into competition folklore as he held his nerve on the 18th green during Sunday’s dramatic singles finale at Bethpage Black to hole an effort and secure the half-point Europe needed to retain the trophy following an incredible fightback by the USA.
Lowry tied his match against Russell Henley, hitting back after trailing the world No3 by two with only four holes remaining and sparking wild scenes of celebration.
Europe went on to win the Ryder Cup outright on American soil for just the fifth time ever - and first since the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012 - after Tyrrell Hatton secured another half-point in his match against Collin Morikawa.
An emotional Lowry said afterwards as he wiped away tears in New York: “I’ve been so lucky to experience amazing things in this game.
“That was the hardest couple of hours of my whole life. Honestly, I just can’t believe it. I can’t believe that putt went in.
“I stood over it going, ‘this is it’. I said to [caddie] Darren [Reynolds] walking down 18, I said I’ve got a chance to do the coolest thing in my life here.
“The Ryder Cup means everything to me. I’ve won The Open in Ireland, it’s amazing, it’s a dream come true, but the Ryder Cup for me is everything.
“To do that there today on the 18th green in front of everyone. It was so hard out there. Fair play to the US lads, we knew they were going to come out fighting.”
Speaking at the post-match press conferences, Lowry said: “I said to my caddie walking down 18, I said I’ve got an opportunity to do the greatest thing I’ve ever done today.
“And I did it. I’m very proud of myself.”
Lowry’s previous points were won alongside Rory McIlroy, with whom he halved against Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay in Friday’s fourballs before they went on to defeat Justin Thomas and Cameron Young in the Saturday fourballs.
“I am extremely proud to be a part of this team,” McIlroy said as he also held back tears amid the celebrations at Bethpage following a difficult few days in which he was mercilessly heckled and booed by the rowdy home crowd.
"As soon as we won in Rome we turned our attentions to doing something that was pretty impossible to do - to win in America and in New York.
"It's been an amazing week. To hear the 'Ole Ole's' here in America, to do something people thought we couldn't do, the comments after Whistling Straits (in 2021), decades of American dominance - we took a lot from that, we let it fuel us.
"We got so lucky in getting an incredible leader in Luke Donald and he shepherded us through the process and he's been amazing.
"11 of the 12 players from Rome came back. We did what we needed to do and we are going to celebrate like there is no tomorrow."
