Team Europe retained the 2025 Ryder Cup on their opponent's soil at Bethpage Black, despite an inspired rallying effort from Team USA in the final day of singles matches and in the face of hecklers and crowd chaos on the course.
Shane Lowry sank his birdie putt on 18 to clinch the 14 points needed for Europe to retain the coveted trophy -- the first time since 2012 the away team has won a Ryder Cup.
"I was bullish about our chances, but this has just been a dream week. It obviously was really tight there at the end. It was a bit stressful, but the big lad sitting right there next to Luke [Donald] played an unbelievable last four holes, and he carried me through the afternoon we had as well," Rory McIlroy said, referring to his compatriot, Lowry, in the post-win team press conference. "Absolute legend, along with everyone else sitting up here. Just so happy that we could get it done."
McIlroy has become Team Europe's most experienced player with six Ryder Cup wins to his name, but until this weekend had never endured a torrent of abuse at the premier biennial golf tournament like he did from the rowdy New York crowd.
"There was a lot of language that was unacceptable and abusive behavior," he said.
People on the course were squeaking toy rubber ducks mid-swing, hurling baiting remarks from behind the ropes, and an American master of ceremonies even stepped down from her role after leading vulgar chants toward McIlroy.
"I don't think we should ever accept that in golf," the 36-year-old five-time major champion said.
"I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. 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," McIlroy said. "Sometimes this week, we didn't see that. So no, this should not be what is acceptable in the Ryder Cup."
He added, "We will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable -- come and support your home team."
McIlroy said there were some moments when he chirped back and other times when he simply played through it.
"Honestly, I'd say it's just on impulse. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I'm quite an impulsive character, if you haven't noticed," he began. "I chirped back a few times because it got to me a few times, but we tried to handle everything that came our way with class and poise, and for the most part, I felt like we did that."
While McIlroy directly addressed the negative subsets of fans, he added, "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 let both teams have the same chance to hit the shots and play a fair contest," he said.
In what he called "a rough week for all of us," McIlroy put a point on things, adding, "We shut them up by our performance and how we played."
The win adds to an illustrious year for McIlroy, who completed the career grand slam with his 2025 Masters victory after a 10-year drought at the four majors.
Another on-course kerfuffle that directly impacted McIlroy was when a fan's drink got launched airborne and partially hit his wife, Erica McIlroy.
"Erica is fine. She's a very, very strong woman. You know, she handled everything this week with class and poise and dignity like she always has," he said of his wife, adding that this type of behavior "should be off-limits, but obviously it wasn't this week."
Lowry, who played alongside McIlroy for the four-ball pairings, said, "I was out there for two days with Erica McIlroy, 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."
His longtime Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose "had no idea" until Rory was asked about Erica in the team press conference Sunday that there was an incident on the course.
"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. That says a lot about the strength of Erica and everybody on this team," Rose said.
In his fourth Ryder Cup for Team USA, Justin Thomas paired up with New York native and first-time teammate Cameron Young to face off against the famed Irish duo on Saturday, witnessing the negative energy from the crowd firsthand.
"There was definitely some nasty things said," Thomas said in the team press conference following the 15-13 loss to Europe. "Cam and I said it to Shane and Rory yesterday that we felt for them. It was unfortunate."
He added, "Cam and I just wished that we gave them something to cheer for instead of people to cheer against. I think that was kind of the main consensus of the last two days, that we weren't giving them enough to cheer for, and they were just trying to help us win."
The Ryder Cup will return to Ireland in 2027 for the second time as Adare Manor, in County Limerick, plays host to the contest between Europe and the United States for the first time.
