FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Staked to the largest lead in Ryder Cup history entering the closing session, Europe fully expected to be celebrating a team victory by Sunday evening.
The surprise was how much emotion poured out of the visiting squad at Bethpage Black on a final day that produced a furious American charge and, ultimately, another Irish hero.
What looked to be only a matter of time before the celebration was on for the visitors turned into nervous glances at the scorecard as the unruly home crowd at the Long Island course finally had a U.S. team to cheer for instead of only a European team to cheer against. It went from looking impossible to improbable to just maybe.
And then Shane Lowry, who endured so much abuse from a hostile and vulgar New York crowd, had the last word. He holed a six-foot birdie putt against Russell Henley to earn the half-point Europe needed to make sure it kept that 17-inch gold chalice.
The 38-year-old Irishman couldn’t contain himself, pumping his fists and spinning around the green and squeezing every teammate he could find. He recalled telling his caddie as they walked up the 18th fairway: “I have a chance to do the coolest thing in my life here.”