McIlroy was in tears after he played poorly under Pádraig Harrington four years ago and Europe were hammered by a young US side led by Steve Stricker.
But after overcoming ferocious heckling but US fans to win his sixth Ryder Cup he explained how Europe were determined to bounce back from that defeat in Wisconsin,
“I’m extremely proud to be a part of this team,” McIlroy declared. “I’m extremely proud of every single one of the players, the VCs, the captain, all the back room support staff.
“This was an unbelievable collective effort. As soon as we won in Rome, we turned our attention to trying to do something that everyone thought was pretty impossible to do. Not just win in America, but win here in New York, it’s just been an amazing week.”
McIlroy was in tears after he played poorly and Europe were hammered by a record 19-9 scoreline at Whistling Straits in 2021.
“Just to hear the olé olés here in America, honestly, to do something that a lot of people thought that we couldn’t do what with the comments and what people were saying after Whistling Straits about this decades of American dominance,” he said.
“We took a lot from that. We let that fuel us. And we got so lucky in getting an incredible leader in Luke Donald. He shepherded us through this whole process, and he’s been absolutely amazing. A lot of the credit has to go down to him. He’s an incredible leader.”
US skipper Bradley was proud of his team’s fightback to win the singles session 8-3.
“Well, they’re tough group, and we we didn’t play our best the first couple days,” Bradley said of his team. “We did today. “That was a really fun day. We had all of our fun in one day here at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.”
A tearful Scottie Scheffler praised Bradley’s leadership, though there will be questions about his pairing decisions, especially in foursomes.
“It means a lot to me,” Bradley said. :Really enjoyed doing this. Never thought I’d get to be a Ryder Cup captain. I’ll never forget it. It was amazing.”
Asked if there were things he might have done differently, he said: “Yeah, probably, of course, I think I would have set the course up a little different, but I don’t know. They played better than us. They deserve to win.
“They’re a great team. I mean, in my eyes, Luke Donald’s the best European runner cup captain of all time.”
As for his chances of a second bite of the cherry, possibly in Adare, he said: “Personally, I got a real weird relationship with this tournament, a lot of heartbreak, but I still love it, and I love the guys, and I love being out here again.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get to do this again. I’ll remember this the rest of my life.”
