THE RYDER CUP

September 28, 2025

Luke Donald

Ludvig Aberg

Matt Fitzpatrick

Tommy Fleetwood

Tyrrell Hatton

Rasmus Hojgaard

Viktor Hovland

Shane Lowry

Robert MacIntyre

Rory McIlroy

Jon Rahm

Justin Rose

Sepp Straka

Bethpage Black Course

Team Europe

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are pleased to be joined now by the European Ryder Cup Team led by Captain Luke Donald.

We'll go ahead and jump right into questions.

Q. Two years ago, Rory, you seemed to call this shot. Why were you so confident then and how does it feel to have been right?

RORY McILROY: It's nice to be right. I'm not right all the time. I have absolute confidence in this team, absolute confidence in our leader, Luke Donald. The vice captains, the backroom staff, the things that people don't see behind the scenes. I think we won in Rome, and the wheels were set in motion to try to do something that had not been done in over a decade.

As we talked today, 11 of the 12 on the team are the same; the captain is the same. We believed a lot in our continuity, and I believe that we had a really special group in Rome, and I felt like we had a real -- look, I said that in the euphoria of winning a Ryder Cup, but I really felt like we had definitely way more of a chance than we had in Whistling Straits in 2021.

So 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 played an unbelievable last four holes, and he carried me through the afternoon we had as well. Absolute legend, along with everyone else sitting up here. Just so happy that we could get it done.

Q. Rory, for you, the fans --

RORY McILROY: (Chugging a beverage.)

Q. 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 say, Rory you're not that good, and you said, I'm really effing good?

RORY McILROY: I am.

Q. I know you are.

RORY McILROY: Really good.

Q. I know. But when do you pick and choose when to interact with the fans?

RORY McILROY: 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. Sometimes I'll engage and sometimes I'll catch myself and refrain. But I don't really choose when, and it's just sort of sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

Q. Would you be okay with another Ryder Cup in this area?

RORY McILROY: If the result was the same, absolutely.

Q. Keegan was in here a few minutes ago saying that he disagreed with the injury rule that impacted Viktor and Harris.

ROBERT MacINTYRE: (Laughing.)

Q. He said it had to be changed by the next Ryder Cup. I wanted to get your thoughts on how it impacted today and just the rule in general?

LUKE DONALD: I think it's been in place since 1971. The U.S. have used it before. I think it happened in 1991 with Steve Pate. That was a tight Ryder Cup, too, 14½-13½. It happened in 1993; Sam Torrance couldn't play with an injured toe. The U.S. won that one.

We have contracts for a reason, a captains' agreement for a reason, for situations that occur.

I want to center it back to Viktor; I would have had absolute faith in him to deliver a point today. He couldn't play. He was gutted.

RORY McILROY: Come on, Vik! (Players clapping on table.)

LUKE DONALD: The rule is the rule and it's been in place for a long time.

Q. Justin, for the second straight Ryder Cup you led everyone in putting, and yesterday you gained more strokes with your putter than the entirety of Rome. What's it like when you get into this superhero mode?

JUSTIN ROSE: I wish I knew. I wish I could be a bit more selfish and know that 25 weeks of the year. But do you know what I mean; I fee like the power of this, the power of the group, who knows what it is, that ability to lock in, the ability to just want it that little bit more.

The answer to your question is I don't know, other than the badge and the boys, honestly. That's all that matters, honestly, the badge and the boys.

Today, if I'm honest, I felt like I didn't putt as well, but you kind of live and die by the putter in match play for sure, and there's always momentum swings with the putter. 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. The 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.

Obviously, yeah, it worked beautifully for me most of the week, and I would say today I would probably rue it a little bit if I'm honest. Yeah, you live and die by it.

Q. In America we are under a constant quest of what makes a good captain. We're still trying to figure it out. What do you think makes Luke such a good leader of men?

JON RAHM: There's so many things that Luke has done outstandingly professionally, so perfect, that it's hard to say one.

Without getting too much into it, the level of professionalism he's shown us the last four years, his attention to detail in his post and his knowledge of Ryder Cup and the game and what we do on the golf course day in can day out is what made these last two Ryder Cups possible. He is the captain of this ship, and he's led us better than I can see anybody leading us. He set the bar extremely high for the future captains.

Q. Anybody else interested in following that? What do you think makes Luke as good as he is?

LUKE DONALD: Just have a good 12 guys.

RORY McILROY: No, it's more than that. His communication skills --

SHANE LOWRY: Let's not give it away; how about that?

RORY McILROY: I'll shut up.

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Let it be, Rory. Let it be.

JUSTIN ROSE: The thing that's most inspiring is to see how he's grown as a leader as well.

RORY McILROY: Yeah.

JUSTIN ROSE: I think over the course of four years, there's been a bit more commitment to himself and to the team. It's been unbelievable to witness.

JON RAHM: Two more years.

SHANE LOWRY: Let's do it again in Ireland (laughter).

LUKE DONALD: No comment.

Q. I'll throw it back to you, Luke. I think often, 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 build up to that, all the attention to detail, all the infrastructure you guys have in place is why you play better, is why you make more putts. Can you speak to, like, what that attention to detail is like in that lead-up to the Ryder Cup?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I really have committed myself to this job because I feel I owe it to the players and I owe it to the Ryder Cup which has been so special to me. 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.

We came into this in New York, and we knew New York was not going to be easy. It was rough. It was brutal at times out there. It really was. It was nasty sometimes.

But I think when you prep these guys enough and you communicate enough with these guys and you give them a plan and an idea and a theme and a motivation, they don't really need motivating, but you know, the theme causes the cohesion of the team.

I was very fortunate to have 11 of the same guys from Rome.

RORY McILROY: And brother!! (Players cheering and clapping on table.)

LUKE DONALD: My job is literally to give these guys a better chance to win. It can be as simple as some very small things.

I'll give you an example. At the hotel rooms this week, the doors to our hotel rooms had a big crack that let in light. We brought things that covered the light. We put different shampoos that had a better smell. We had --

RORY McILROY: Le Labo if anyone is wondering. Really, really nice (laughter).

LUKE DONALD: We changed the bedding because the beds weren't very good, and they just had sheets, and we created much nicer beds so guys could sleep. They could have more energy. Those are just little things. I'm going into some really small details.

JON RAHM: They had snacks for everyone.

SHANE LOWRY: We won't need to change the bed linen at Adare Manor; I can tell you that.

LUKE DONALD: No, 1500 a night.

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 create an environment where they can succeed. These are 12 amazing players, we know that. You're just trying to, again, put them in a position where they feel comfortable.

Q. Ludvig, two years ago, you were a pretty fresh face as a pro. 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?

LUDVIG Ã…BERG: Yeah, last time in Rome, it was sort of a whirlwind for me. Obviously just turned pro a couple of months prior. But felt a little bit more comfortable this week, I guess, knowing a little bit more what to expect.

But yeah, today, I was proud of the way that I played. And I'm proud of being a part of this team. There's 11 guys that I have tremendous joy to have been a part of and a captain that I'm so happy that he put trust in me, and I'm just trying to repay that by playing good golf.

Yeah, today, is a that I'm going to remember for a very, very long time.

Q. Shane, you had the winning moment today. When you woke up this morning, did you have any thought that you would be the guy that would finish it out?

JUSTIN ROSE: Just calm down --

SHANE LOWRY: To finish the Ryder Cup with a putt from ten feet -- to be honest, no. Like obviously I have faith in my team to go out, and I thought we were going to win the Ryder Cup early today. But it's not that -- we were not going to out to win our own match. That was the main goal.

Look, we were all prepped on that last night. You don't want to take any complacency out there to that arena against those players. The U.S. Team are 12 amazing players, and we knew it was going to be very hard.

But I didn't envision myself going up the 18th needing a birdie to retain the Ryder Cup. It was, yeah, like the worst two hours of my life. It was horrible. It was.

But I said to my caddie walking down 18, "I've got an opportunity to do the greatest thing I've ever done today," and I did it. And I'm very proud of myself.

(Entire team clapping for Shane).

Q. Between winning the Masters and today, you've been a part of final days. How do you manage your emotions in big moments?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, you have something in your way 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 is a cliché of whether it's one shot at a time, today, honestly it was like one foot in front of the other.

I felt like I was running on empty today. I gave so much of myself the first two days and I tried as hard as I could out there against Scottie. Scottie and I both didn't have our best. It was a bit of a pillow fight if I'm honest.

I dug in as much as I could. I held that putt on 15, but yeah, I just tried to stay in my own little bubble as much as possible. It was obviously quite difficult to do that at times.

I just knew every hole that I completed was a little bit closer to that goal that we all had in mind, and that was really the important thing.

I was so appreciative to the VCs and Luke and everyone that was out there. Thomas Björn walked with me a lot today and he kept encouraging me. He kept saying, seven more holes, six more holes, five more holes. Just knowing that you have that support of your team, it means a lot, especially in an environment like that out there.

Q. Sepp, you had some exciting, stressful weeks and now you're a daddy of two boys. (Team clapping for Sepp.) Two Ryder Cups, how does it sound for you?

SEPP STRAKA: Yeah, it's unbelievable. The last couple of months have been a bit of a roller coaster for my wife and I.

Little Thomas is doing well. He's in the hospital, but he's doing well. You know, these guys, Luke and everybody, has been so unbelievable in supporting me. Yeah, I can't thank everybody enough for the support that you guys are showing me throughout this whole thing.

And yeah, I just -- yeah, I cannot thank everybody enough.

Q. If you're asked to do this, if you're asked to do two more years, what's your answer?

(Chants of "Two more years! Two more years!")

LUKE DONALD: My answer is I'm going to enjoy tonight.

Q. Justin was the leader in strokes gained putting, but who's going to be the leader in strokes gained partying tonight?

TYRRELL HATTON: Sepp. Sepp will stay undefeated.

SEPP STRAKA: I don't know, in Rome I was leaving for the airport and I still saw Tyrrell.

SHANE LOWRY: People will think it's me, but I'll be gone early.

JUSTIN ROSE: Sepp, hands down.

RORY McILROY: Dark horse in the back right!

JUSTIN ROSE: (Looking incredulous) I got a bit scared of myself after 2018.

RORY McILROY: Fitzy has to fill in his stat sheet from today (laughter).

Q. Luke, you dominated the last decade and you're in position to do that this decade and the key connector between those eras is Rory --

SHANE LOWRY: You guys told us we wouldn't win one for 20 years though.

RORY McILROY: What about the dominance, Alan?

Q. I feel the factor with the captains, what a big difference they make. But what does Rory mean to you guys, not just his play but his leadership and his confidence and all the intangibles?

LUKE DONALD: Look, you need your big players to step up. Looking at Rome, Viktor was our FedExCup champ, we had Rory, we had Jon. They had 10½ points without playing together once in Rome.

This week, you know, Rory has won four out of five. Jon, three out of five.

JON RAHM: My fault.

LUKE DONALD: You could argue Tommy is maybe four out of five.

ROBERT MacINTYRE: Come on Tommy.

LUKE DONALD: You absolutely need your big guns to fire, and that's what we are proud of, that the U.S. guys' big guys, their guns, they didn't get as many points as ours.

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 and the Masters, but 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 Ryder Cup and how difficult that is.

To have someone of Rory's caliber fighting so hard, that's inspiring for the team. You know, obviously you can't do it alone but it's very helpful when someone like Rory is contributing like he does.

Q. 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 Ryder Cups, leading point earner, how does that elevate him in the competition?

LUKE DONALD: Ryder Cup weeks are the best weeks of our lives. We talk about this all the time. Those individual accolades are fun. Individually, we want to achieve as much as we can. Rory has achieved so much in the game. His place in history is set.

JON RAHM: (Nodding in agreement.)

LUKE DONALD: But I think those weeks we spend together are the ones we remember the most and the ones we cherish the most because of the time we get to spend with each other. That's a big part of my captaincy is to create an environment where these guys are having the best weeks of their lives, honestly. 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 overcome one of the toughest environments in all of sport.

And that is inspiring to me and that's what Rory gets and all these other 11 guys get, as well.

Q. How sustainable for the game of golf is the level of abuse that you and others, I know, received this weekend? Is it something that you just have to accept or is it something that's taking the game in a dangerous direction?

RORY McILROY: Look, I don't think we should ever accept that in golf. I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. Golf has the ability to you 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.

Sometimes this week we didn't see that. So no, this should not be what is acceptable in the Ryder Cup. But you know, we will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable, and for me, it's -- you know, come and support your home team. Come and support your team.

I think if I was an American, I would be annoyed that people -- I didn't hear a lot of shouts for Scottie today, but I heard a lot of shouts against me. It's like, support your players. That's the thing.

Look, it was a rough week for all of us. But at the same time, we shut them up by our performance and how we played, and we tried to -- 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.

Q. When you've got police dogs and the police coming, were you aware of that happening?

RORY McILROY: I wish they had of let the dogs off the leashes.

The police out there and the amount of security presence was insane. Look, nothing was going to happen. There wasn't going to be physical altercation or anything like that apart from maybe Tommy and Rosey up to the 16th tee yesterday.

But look, it was -- there was a lot of language that was unacceptable and abusive behavior.

But look, that's -- and look, 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.

But you know, there was a small subset of people that behaved a little bit differently than that.

Q. It's one thing when the abuse is directed at you guys as players, that's bad enough, but it seemed to spill over to sort of friends and family, the entourages of you guys. Obviously there's a lot of people inside the ropes this week, but a video came out yesterday of a beer being thrown at your wife. Is she okay? She seemed upset. Obviously that's something no one wants to go through.

RORY McILROY: Yeah.

Q. What was your view of that situation and the direction of this event as a whole with that in mind, families inside the ropes?

RORY McILROY: It should be off-limits, but obviously it wasn't this week.

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. I love her and we're going to have a good time celebrating tonight.

JUSTIN ROSE: 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. That says a lot about the strength of Erica and everybody on this team.

SHANE LOWRY: 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. (Team clapping and cheering for Erica.)

Q. With all that in mind, how satisfying is it to turn around to someone and say, "Shut the F up" and then stiff it to two feet?

RORY McILROY: Very fucking satisfying.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It wasn't stiff. It wasn't stiff. I had to putt it. (Laughter.)

SHANE LOWRY: A question for the FedExCup champ, no?

Q. Tommy, what did you see over that putt that Rory left you with?

RORY McILROY: Right edge?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Right center. Pushed it in the right center.

RORY McILROY: Too busy counting all that money from the FedExCup.

Q. Rory and Shane together looks like a no-brainer on paper. Was it, or was it a plan that you had for a long time?

LUKE DONALD: Our plan for Friday was pretty set pretty early on. You obviously sometimes have to make adjustments. But we felt everyone was playing well. Everyone had an opportunity to play and contribute to the team. We were excited about the team we have 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?

SHANE LOWRY: We played about 15 holes at Whistling Straits.

RORY McILROY: It was very unforgettable.

LUKE DONALD: Don't even remember that.

Yeah, these pairings -- I'm going to give a lot of props to Edoardo. Edoardo and I sit down and we chat for many, many hours about all the kind of different stats and the pairings and the personalities and the course fits. When you have a partnership like Rory and Shane, you know, they get along, obviously, amazingly well. And you know, I think in four-balls, that's really important.

But it was a pretty natural pairing. I think everyone wants to play with Rory.

SHANE LOWRY: (Nodding) Yep.

LUKE DONALD: 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. To be honest, none of these guys names come up very often. Often the answer is, "I'll play with anyone." And that's what's makes me proud as a leader is the cohesion we have, the unity we have. It makes making pairings quite easy because they all have each other's backs. If I come up to them and say, "What do you think about this?" They say, "I trust in you, Luke. Let's go with it. "

Again, that is a nice thing to have. It's nice to not have those big egos in the team room.

Q. You mentioned there was a theme of the week. Can you share what that theme was?

LUKE DONALD: Well, our theme was we were trying to win for a fifth time away. We talked about it at the beginning of the week. The practice shirts were based off the wins we had already had away: '87, '95, '04, 2012. Everything we did was sort of centered around that, and to make the guys feel that we had done it quite often. In ten Ryder Cups since '83, we had won four of them and we had come damn close three other times. This wasn't an impossible task. We knew it was going to be difficult. We wanted to inspire them to know it could be done.

My job, again, is to give them the reasons to make them believe that they can win. So that was really our theme.