Team Europe Winning Press Conference | 2025 Ryder Cup

Team Europe Winning Press Conference | 2025 Ryder Cup

We’re pleased to be joined now by the European Rder Cup team led by Captain Luke Donald. We’ll go ahead and jump right into questions. Starting with Sean. Go ahead. Uh two years ago, Rory, you seem to call this shot. Uh why were you so confident then and and how does it feel to have been right? It’s nice to be right. I’m not right all the time. Um I I have absolute confidence in this team. abs absolute confidence in our leader look Donald um the vice captains the backroom staff you know the things that people don’t see behind the scenes um I think we won in Rome and the wheels were set in motion to try to do something that hadn’t been done in over a decade and um as you you know as we talked today uh 11 of the 12 on the team are the same the captain’s the same um we believed a lot in our continuity And um I you know I I believe that we had a really special group in Rome and I felt like we had a real you know look I I said that in the euphoria of winning a REDR cup but I really felt like we had definitely way more of a chance than we had in Whistling Straits in 2021. So um I was bullish about our chances but um you know this is this has just been a dream week and you know it obviously was really tight there at the end. It was a bit stressful, but the big lad sitting one right to to look made a played an unbelievable last four holes and uh he carried me through the afternoon yesterday as well. Uh absolute legend along with everyone else sitting up here and um just so happy that uh we could we could get it done. Up here to Ryan. Guys, congratulations uh Rory for you um the fans that don’t Oh yeah, go ahead. Take your time. We leave joy anymore uh over here. Um I don’t need to tell you about the fans obviously. But question is how do you pick and choose when to interact? Yesterday on 16 in the afternoon I heard some guy he was like Roy you’re not that good and you said I’m really effing good. So I am I know you are really good. I know. But when do you pick and choose when to interact with the fans? Obviously there’s playful background. Um honestly I I’d say it’s just on impulse. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Um, I’m quite an impulsive character if you haven’t noticed. Um, and uh, sometimes I’ll I’ll engage and sometimes I’ll catch myself and and refrain, but I don’t I don’t really choose when and and it’s just it’s sort of sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Would you be okay with another RER Cup in this area? If the result was the same, absolutely. Up to 18. Luke in the back here. Uh Keegan was in here a few minutes ago saying that he disagreed with the injury rule that impacted Victor and Harris and said that uh it should be changed by the next Ryder Cup. I wanted to get your thoughts not on how it it impacted today, but just on the rule in general. I think it’s been in place since 1971. The US have used it before. I think it’s happened in 1991 with Steve Pate. That was a tight rider cup too. 14 and a half, 13 and a half. Um it happened in 1993. Um Sam Torrance couldn’t play with an injured toe. The US won that one. It’s just, you know, we have contracts for a reason and a a captain’s agreement for a reason for situations that occur. It’s I want to center it back to Victor. I would have had absolute faith in him to deliver a point today. He only could he couldn’t play. He was gutted. He was on close to tears to not be able to play. So, the rule is the rule and it’s been in place for a long time. Over here with Luke. Uh, congratulations everyone. Um, Justin, for the second I’m just over here. Um, for the second straight RDER Cup, you’ve led everyone in putting and yesterday you gained more strokes with your putter than the entirety in Rome. Like, how are you, how do you do this? What’s it like when you get into this superhero? So mature. I w I wish I knew. I wish I I wish I could be a bit more selfish and know that 25 weeks of the year. But um do you know what I mean? I feel like the power of this, the power of the group, who knows what it is. Um that that ability to lock in, the ability to just want it that little bit more. Uh I I I don’t know. The answer to your question is I don’t know. Um other than the badge and the boys, honestly. Um, and yeah, that’s all that matters. Yeah. Badge and the boys. The badge and the boys. Yeah. Um, yeah, the boys. I wish I put better today if I’m honest. Uh, today I felt like I didn’t putt as well, but you know, you kind of live and die by the putter in match play, you know, for sure. And there’s always momentum swings with a putter. You know, you make a long one, you steal something, you miss a short one, you gift something. There’s a lot of pressure on the putter. Putter is a huge key. And obviously the way the golf course was set up this week as well, the putter was a very very key club in the bag and obviously yeah it worked beautifully for me for most of the week and then I would say today I would probably ru it a little bit if I’m honest. So you know yeah you live and die by it Kevin. John I want to start this with you John but anybody else can pick it up after you’re done. In America we seem to be under a constant quest of like what makes a good captain? We’re still trying to figure it out. I’m curious what you think. What makes Luke such a good leader of men? Uh there’s so many things that Luke has done outstandingly professionally so so perfect that it’s hard to say one without getting too much into it. The level of professionalism he’s showed us the last four years. his attention to detail and his pose and his knowledge of the Ryder Cup in the game and what we do on the golf course day in day out is was made this last two RER cups possible. He he’s the captain of this ship and he’s led us better than I can see anybody leading us. Uh he set the bar extremely high for the future captains. Anybody else interested in following that? Like what do you think makes Luke as good as he is? Just to have a good 12 guys. That’s it’s more than that. Um his his communication skills. Um let’s not give it away. Yeah, he’s just all right. I’ll shut up. No, I think like look, he How about that? Let let it be, Rory. Let it be. The thing that’s most inspiring though is to see him how how he’s grown as a leader as well. You know I think over the course of four years incredible commitment to himself and therefore the team has been unbelievable to witness. Yeah. Yeah. Kyle, no comment. I I’ll throw it back to you, Luke. Um I I think often to to kind of follow up what KV was saying in with the Americans, they say, “Well, the Europeans just played better, they made more putts, etc.” The more often that happens, the more it seems like the two-year buildup to that, all the attention to detail, all the infrastructure you guys have in place is why you play better. It’s why you make more putts. Can you speak to like what that attention to detail is like in that leadup to the Ryder Cup? Yeah, I I you know, I really have committed myself to this this job because I feel I I owe it to the players and I owe it to the RDER Cup which has been so special to me. Um I’ve had so many incredible experiences. So yeah, I’ve had to kind of put my own game a little bit to the side and every day I’m trying to think about things that could help us come up with different things that might just give us a little edge. You know, we we came into this in New York, we knew New York was not going to be easy. Um it was it was rough. It was brutal at times out there. Really was. It was was nasty sometimes. But, you know, I think when you when you prep these guys enough and you you communicate enough with these guys and you you give them a plan and an idea and a theme and um a motivation, they don’t they don’t really need motivating, but you know, the theme kind of causes the cohesion of the team. And you know, I was very fortunate to have 11 of the same guys um from from Rome. But brother and brother my my job is yeah literally to give these ch these guys a better chance to win. And it’s can be can be as simple as some very small things. You know, we we I’ll give you an example at the hotel rooms this week. The doors to our hotel rooms had a big crack and it let in light. We we we brought things that covered the light. Um we put different shampoos that had a better smell. We had a we we the labu if anyone’s wonder wondering really nice really really nice. We we changed we changed that we changed the bedding because the beds weren’t very good and they just had sheets and we created a much nicer bed so guys could sleep they could have more energy. So that those are just little things but I mean I’m going into some really small details but snacks for everyone. that. Yeah. I tell you what, there won’t need to change the bedlining in a D manner. Let me flip 1590. But it it’s just taking the time and having the care that you want to do everything you can to kind of give these guys the best opportunity. You want to create an environment where they can succeed. These are 12 amazing players. We know that. Um so you’re just trying to again put them in a position where they feel comfortable. Dylan. Yeah. Ludvig, two years ago, you were a pretty fresh face as a pro. Um, yesterday probably wasn’t your favorite day. Today, you ended up with the only blue flag on the board. What did this week and today mean to you? Uh, yeah. Yeah. Um, last time in Rome, it was u it was sort of a whirlwind for me. um obviously just turned pro a couple months prior, but uh felt a little bit more um comfortable this week, I guess, knowing a little bit more what to expect, but yeah, today um I was proud of the way that I played. Um and I’m proud of, you know, being a part of this team. Uh there’s 11 guys that I’ve, you know, have tremendous joy to to have been a part of and a captain that um I’m so happy that he put trust in me. Um, and I’m just trying to repay that by playing good golf. Um, and uh, yeah, today, um, is a day that I’m going to remember for a very, very long time. James, Shane, uh, you had the winning moment today. I guess I’m I’m wondering when you woke up this morning if you thought there was any chance that you would be the guy to finish it out and, uh, if you could just take us into that moment on 18, what was going through? Calm down. Yeah, you you only you only retained it. Shane, just want us to ride our cup by the way, but like it was bit of two pull from 10. Um to be honest, no. Like I I obviously I I have faith in my team to go out and I thought we were going to win the RER Cup early today, but it’s not that we weren’t all going out to win our own match. That that’s was the main goal. And look, Luke, we were well prepped on that last night. like you don’t want to take any complacency out there to that like arena against those players. Like the US team are 12 amazing players and we knew it was going to be very hard but uh I didn’t envision myself going up the 18 needing a birdie to retain the RDER Cup. It was uh yeah like the worst two hours of my life. It was it was horrible. Um, honestly, it was it was uh but I said to my caddy walking down 18, I said, “I’ve got some I’ve got an opportunity to do the greatest thing I’ve ever done uh today.” And I did it and I’m very proud of myself. up here to Adam. Rory, um, obviously between winning the Masters and today, you’ve been a part of some seriously emotional final days. I’m just curious about how you manage your emotions in big moments. Uh yeah, I you try to you know you have you know something in your way and or something ahead of you and you just try to for me the easiest thing is just to break it down into smaller pieces. So you know as much of it as is a cliche whether it’s one one shot at a time um today it was honestly it was like one foot in front of the other. It it was I which is nice. I felt like I was running on empty today. I I gave so much of myself the first two days and um I tried as hard as I could uh out there against Scott. Scotty and I both didn’t have our best. Um it was a bit of a pillow fight if I’m honest, but um I I I dug in as much as I could. I I held that putt on 15 and um but yeah, I just I just tried to stay at my own little bubble um as m as much as possible. It was obviously quite difficult to do that at times, but um I just knew every every hole that I completed was a a you know, a little bit closer to to that goal that we all had in mind. And um and that was really the important thing. Um it I I was so appreciative to the the VCs and and Luke and everyone that was out there. Um Thomas Bjorn walked with me a lot this today and he just he kept encouraging me. He kept just saying seven more holes, six more holes, five more holes. And um just to have know that you’ve got that support of your of your team. Um it means a lot especially in a in an environment like that out there. Adam Shupac, a question for Zep. Um you had some exciting stressful weeks and now you’re daddy of two boys and of two rider cups. Two rider cups. How does it sound for you? How does it feel? Um yeah, uh it’s unbelievable. Um you know that the last couple of months have been uh bit of a roller coaster uh for for my wife and I. Um Lil Thomas is doing well. He’s in the hospital, but he’s doing well. And uh you know, these these guys uh Luke and everybody has been so unbelievable in supporting me. And uh yeah, I just I can’t I can’t thank everybody enough for for the support that that you guys have shown me throughout this whole whole thing. Um and uh yeah, I just yeah, cannot thank thank everybody enough. Congrats from Austria. Adam, Luke Luke over if you’re asked to do this if you’re asked to do two more years, what’s your answer? Two more years. Sorry. All right. Says, “I’m going to enjoy tonight.” All right. Uh, Justin was the leader in strokes gain putting, but who’s going to be the leader in strokes gain partying tonight? Seb will stay undefeated. I don’t know. In Rome, I was leaving for the airport and I still saw T. People think it’s me, but I’ll be done early on. No, no, no. Set hands down. We’ll have some fun. It’s Austrian blood. Rosie, Rosie, dark horse. Dark horse in the back right. I I got a bit scared of myself after 2018. There was no Fitzy has to fill in his stat sheet from today. Allan, this is for Luke. Uh right over here to your left. Um, you know, Europe dominated last decade. You guys are in position to do that again. This decade, the sort of key connector between those eras is Rory. What does he mean to this team? Not just you guys told us we wouldn’t win one for 20 years, though. What about that decade of dominance, Alan? No. Well, I I failed to factor in the captains and what a big difference they make. And um but um what what does Rory mean to you guys? You know, not just his play, but his uh leadership and his confidence and all that intangibles. Look, you you need you need your your big players to step up. Um, you know, looking at Rome, Victor was our FedEx Cup champ. We had Rory, we had John, they had 10 and a half points without playing together once in Rome this week. You know, Rory’s won four out of five. John three three out of five. My fault. You know, you argue Tommy maybe is, you know, four out of five. Go on, Tommy. God, you absolutely need your your your big guns to fire, you know, and I think that’s what we’re proud of as that the US guys, big guys, you know, the the the guns, they, you know, they they didn’t get as many points as ours. And um Rory has made no qualms about how important the Ryder Cup is to him. And I think that’s inspiring to me. It’s inspiring to his team. You know, maybe not quite on the same level as winning the Grand Slam in the Masters, but it’s it’s pretty effing close. It really is. He’s talked to me about it many times about how he wants to win an away rider cup and how difficult that is. So to have someone you know of Rory’s caliber fighting so hard that’s inspiring for the team and um you know see we can’t do it alone but it it’s very helpful when you know someone like Rory is contributing like he does. I mean, just related to that, when we talk about a player’s place in history, it’s always individual achievements, but if Rory wins eight or nine REDRER cups, if he goes on to be the leading point earner, like how does that elevate him in the conversation? The Ryder Cup weeks are the best weeks of our lives. We we talk about this all the time. You know, those individual accolades are are fun. We we want to we individually we’re we want to achieve as much as we can. Rory has achieved so much in the game. Uh you know his place in history is set but I think those weeks we spend together are the ones we remember the most and we cherish the most because of the times we get to spend with each other. Um, you know, that’s a big part of my captaincy is to create an environment where these guys having the best weeks of their lives. Honestly, you know, we’ll always remember this. We’ll always go down in history. We talk about all the people that came before us that paved the way for us. Now, future generations will talk about this team tonight and what they did and how they were able to come overcome one of the toughest environments in all of sport. And that is that is inspiring to me. And that’s what Rory Rory gets and all these other 11 guys get as well. Up to 13. Rory um sorry here. How um how sustainable for the game of golf is the level of abuse that you and others I know but received um received this weekend. I mean is it something that you just have to accept or is it something that’s taking the game in a dangerous direction? No, I I like I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf. Um, I think golf should be held to a higher standard than than what was, you know, than what was seen out there this week. Um, golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people. Um, and you know, sometimes this week we didn’t see that. So, uh, no, it this should not be what is acceptable in the RDER Cup. Um, but you know, we will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that, you know, what happened here this week is is not acceptable. And it’s, you know, I for me it’s, you know, come and support your home team. You come and support your team. You know, I think if I was an American, I would be annoyed that people I didn’t hear a lot of shouts for Scotty today, but I heard a lot of shouts against me. And it’s like, support your players, you know, that’s the that’s the thing. So, um, look, it was a rough week for all of us. Um, but at the same time, you know, we we shut them up by our performance and how we played and we we tried to, you know, I I tripped back a few times because it got to me a few times, but we we tried to handle everything that came our way um with class and poise and for the most part I felt like we did that. Mike 12, you have a question. Well, I was going to ask a similar question to Ollie really, but um when you’ve got police dogs and the police coming in, were you aware when that was happening? And have you ever seen anything quite like that on a golf course before when you’ve been playing? Wish they had to let the dogs off the leashes. Um I want police off I uh No, honestly, like the the amount like the police out there and the the the amount the security presence was was insane. Um, and it’s not a look, nothing was going to happen. Nothing was going to happen where I I you know, there wasn’t really going to be any sort of physical altercation or anything like that apart from maybe Tommy and Rosie up to the 16th yesterday. But, um, look, it was just it was, you know, there was a lot of language that was unacceptable and abusive behavior and um, but look, that’s and look, that’s it’s a very it’s a minority of the crowd. It’s not the majority. the majority of people here are true golf fans and are respectful and um let both teams have the the same chance to to hit the shots and um and play a fair contest. But, you know, there was, you know, there was a a small subset of people that um behaved a little bit differently than that up to 19. Uh Rory, it’s uh it’s one thing when the abuse is directed at you guys as players. That’s bad enough. Um, but it seemed to spill over to sort of friends and family, the entouragees of you guys. Obviously, there was a lot of people inside the ropes this week, but videos come out yesterday of of a beer being thrown at your wife. Firstly, is she okay? She seemed upset obviously after that. That’s obviously something no one wants to go through. What was your view on that situation? And just, you know, the direction of of this event as a whole with that in mind that families don’t feel comfortable inside the ropes. I mean, it’s uh it it it should be off limits, but it but obviously it wasn’t this week. But um Eric is fine. She is a very very strong woman. And um you know, she she handled everything this week with class and poise and dignity like she always has. And um I love her and um we’re going to have a good time celebrating tonight. Can I can I just pick up on that if you don’t mind because I actually had no idea that Erica had a beer thrown at her yesterday. So fair play to Erica. She didn’t bring that to the team room. We didn’t make that a big deal. That’s news to me which is that says a lot about the strength of Erica and everybody in this team that they I was out there I was I was out there for two days with Erica Maroy and the amount of abuse that she received was astonishing and the way she was out there supporting her husband and supporting her team was unbelievable and kudos to her for that. Go on, Erica and Rory. Um, with all that in mind, and everything you go through, how satisfying is it to turn around to someone and say, quote, “Shut the f up.” And then stiff it to two feet. Very [ __ ] satisfying. Congratulations. It wasn’t stiff. It wasn’t stiff. I had to put it. Anyone got a question for the FedEx Cup champ? No. Yeah. Tommy, what did you see over that putt? What did I What? What did you see over that part that Rory left you with? Edge. Right edge. Right. Right center. Just pushed it in. Too busy counting all that money from the FedEx Cup. Yeah. Mike six. Yeah. Uh Luke Rory and Shane together looks looks like a no-brainer uh on paper. Was it or was it a plan that you had for a long time? And how important was that role Shane played for for Rory yesterday? He was like the big brother and the bouncer and the security guard and everything else rolled into one. Well, we our plan for Friday was was pretty set pretty early on. You obviously sometimes have to make adjustments, but we felt everyone was playing well. everyone was had an opportunity to to play and contribute to the team and you know we were excited about the team we had and the form they were in and how close they were. Obviously Shane and Rory hadn’t played together in a Ryder Cup before, right? No, we we played about 15 holes in Winston Straits. It was very unforgettable. Don’t even remember that. I just need another one. But again, you know, you ran out. Yeah, these these pairings um he doesn’t know everything. I got to give a lot of props to Eduardo. You know, Eduardo and I sit down and we we chat for many many hours about all the kinds of different stats and the pairings and the personalities and the course fits. And you know, when you have a partnership like Rory and Shane, you know, they they get along obviously amazingly well. And you know, I think in four balls that’s that’s really important. Um, but it it was a pretty natural pairing. It I think everyone wants to play with Rory. Y there’s not there’s not many people when I say anyone you don’t want to play with. Rory’s name doesn’t come up very often. So to be honest, none of these guys names come up very often. The the of the often the answer is I’ll play with anyone. And and that’s what makes me proud as a leader. It’s just the the cohesion we have, the the unity we have. You know, it it makes making pairing pairings quite easy because they all have each other’s backs and if I come up to them say, “What do you think about this?” They’re like, “I trust in you, Luke.” You know, let’s go with it. So, again, that is that is a nice thing to have. It’s not it’s nice to not have those big egos in the in the team room. We’ll finish up over here with Gabby. Luke, you mentioned there was a theme of the week. I was just wondering, can you share what that theme was? Well, our theme was we were trying to win for a fifth time away. Um, you know, the pract we talked about at the beginning of the week. The practice shirts were were based off the wins we’d already had away. 87 95 04 2012 uh 20 Yeah, 2012. Everything everything we did was sort of centered around that and to to to I’m a [ __ ] [ __ ] apparently. Make the guys feel that we had done it quite often. You know, in 10 Ryder Cups since 83, we’d won four of them and we come damn close three other times. So, this wasn’t an impossible task. We knew it was going to be difficult, but you want to inspire them to know that it can be done. You know, my job again is to give them the reasons to make them believe that they can win. And so that was really our theme. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Thank you. To watch another Ryder Cup video, click here and subscribe here.

Watch Team Europe’s press conference following their dramatic win at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

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The 2025 Ryder Cup is the 45th edition and runs between September 25 – September 28. Luke Donald is the European Team Captain and Keegan Bradley is the U.S. Team Captain. The European Team are the reigning champion after winning 16 ½ – 11 ½ at Marco Simone in 2023. Every two years, 24 of the best players from Europe and the United States go head-to-head in match play competition. Drama, tension, incredible golf, camaraderie and sportsmanship are served in equal measure, captivating an audience of millions around the world. It’s an event that transcends sport, yet remains true to the spirit of its founder, Samuel Ryder.

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