Europe hangs on to win the 2025 Ryder Cup

Shane Lowry (YouTube)

Europe has won the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, New York,, but it was far from easy. On Sunday, it was the Americans that actually dominated play as they won 8.5 of a possible 12 points. After Europe dominated the first two days of action, Europe hung on to win 15-13.

The European star on Sunday was Shane Lowry,  the 2019 British Open champion. The native of Clara, Ireland made a huge putt on the 18th hole to win the hole and secure half a point in his match against world number three Russell Henley. The half point guaranteed 14 points for Europe, and the ability to retain the Ryder Cup.

Europe then won the Ryder Cup outright when Tyrrell Hatton of High Wycombe, England earned half a point against Collin Morikawa. In a remarkable statistic, only one European golfer won a singles match. That was Ludvig Aberg of Sweden, who beat Patrick Cantlay 2 & 1.

We also learned of a surprise rule from the Ryder Cup on Sunday. If a player has to withdraw from the tournament due to injury prior to a match starting, then both teams get half a point. We saw that heading into the final day when Norway’s Viktor Hovland withdrew against American Harris English, and as a result only 11 matches instead of 12 matches were contested. It is a good thing that Europe won by more than half of point, or there could have been some controversy. In my opinion, the full point in this scenario should have gone to the United States.