Europe wins the Ryder Cup with a tough finish in New York

Europe won (13-15) the 2025 Ryder Cup against the United States this Sunday with a dramatic final day on the American course of Bethpage Black (New York), where the host threatened with a historic comeback in the eleven individual matches.

Luke Donald's team, also captain of Europe's victory at Rome 2023, had it in their hands after Saturday, winning all four sessions and with a seven-point lead (4.5-11.5) heading into Sunday, but the United States drew on the quality of their world ranking players and Europe, who only won one game out of eleven, suffered until the sentences of Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton.

The absence of Norwegian Viktor Hovland due to a neck injury left the match at eleven, automatically distributing half a point to each team, leaving Europe just two points away from retaining the title. However, the Reds took the lead, and things got unexpectedly complicated for Europe, given what had been seen in the first two days: fuel for Bethpage Black.

Sweden's Ludvig Aberg secured that lone victory, Lowry retained the Ryder Cup, and Hatton won it for Europe in the penultimate match. Scotland's Robert MacIntyre added another half-point for the final 13-15, the fifth victory for the "Old Continent" in the United States in Ryder Cup history after 1987, 1995, 2004, and 2012.

The United States needed a miracle, but Europe didn't plan on getting that close. New Yorker Cameron Young, his team's best player in the tournament, won the first match against Justin Rose, despite the Englishman's epic comeback, with magic on the 13th hole but failing to finish on the 18th. Eight matches reached that final green, which had been so rarely trodden on Friday and Saturday.

Justin Thomas kept his singles record unblemished (4-0) by defeating one of the European pillars, Tommy Fleetwood, thanks to the final putt. The cheers on the 18th, the celebrations of Keegan Bradley's team, gave the rest of the host team confidence. Bryson DeChambeau, who was five holes down on the seventh , came back to beat Matthew Fitzpatrick to make a tie with the epic overtones they needed.

The Ryder Cup story suddenly seemed ready to be written, when it had seemed settled early on. From the American victory at Brookline in 1999 to the miracle of Medinah in 2012, but in a Yankee version, the United States seemed to be sapping the morale of a Europe that was also losing the match between Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. The world number one took revenge on both by calling time.

Aberg's victory was then confirmed, beating Patrick Cantlay 2-1, a relief for Donald, who was going through "the most stressful 12 hours" of his life, as he later confessed. Spaniard Jon Rahm fell 4-3, collapsing on the second nine holes, to Xander Schauffele, but the United States had run out of room for error.

There were five matches remaining, and the host country needed to win all five. As throughout Sunday, the Ryder Cup was in Europe's hands. JJ Sapun defeated Austrian Sepp Straka 2-1, but Lowry was coming from behind in a comeback. The Irishman, who had a particularly fierce fight with the New York crowd on Saturday, also defending his teammate McIlroy, tied with Russell Henley.

The half point secured Europe's defense of the Ryder Cup, after winning the 15th hole and exploding with emotion, almost running out of breath, doing the same on the 18th. The only European rookie, the Dane Rasmus Hojgaard, lost by one hole to Ben Griffin, and the last two matches allowed Europe to taste victory and not just the defense, with Hatton's 14.5 being decisive.

The Englishman personified the suffering of all of Europe, not realizing a few hours earlier that, in the penultimate match against Collin Morikawa, with his team seven points ahead, his contribution would prove vital. Donald's team, for whom they had called for "two more years" after repeating their title as Tony Jacklin did almost 40 years ago, made good on their threat, winning away from home, winning in noisy New York, and erasing the bad memory of Whistling Straits in 2021.

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