‘So proud of everyone in this team’
see,” said Bjorn. “It’s the worst decision I made all week.”
Everything else turned out perfectly for the Dane, who masterminded a rout of the favourites which saw records tumble.
Francesco Molinari, whose win over Phil Mickelson confirmed the return of the trophy, became the first European to win five points from five, while Sergio Garcia passed Sir Nick Faldo’s mark to become the most successful player in Ryder Cup history with his win over Rickie Fowler.
“I’ve played two Ryder Cups before and I hadn’t won a match – I’d been carried by the other guys – so it was about time I was able to help them,” said Molinari. “It wasn’t about one guy. I’m just so proud of everyone in the team. It’s an amazing group of guys. This team has been incredible from the start.
“We were determined to do the job. Nothing was going to stop us. You could see on Monday when we got together it wasn’t ending any other way.
“Any one of us would have deserved to claim the winning point – I was hoping it would be Sergio because to become the leading Ryder Cup pointscorer is an incredible achievement.” Garcia promised Bjorn three points when he picked him as a wild card and the Spaniard delivered his third of the contest yesterday.
“Sergio’s Ryder Cup story tells its own, it’s a whole thing of its own, and it’s a brilliant story. It’s a fantastic achievement,” said Bjorn. “He is very much the centre of what we do.”
Poulter, another of Bjorn’s wild cards, was in tears afterwards as he hugged his son Luke. “I can’t quantify how much it means. You see it in the emotion when we hole putts and you see it in the emotion of the fans,” said the Englishman.
“To be able to represent Europe is extremely special; to be able to win this thing back is even more special.”
For the Americans it was a sixth successive away defeat and a humiliation for two of their grandees, Tiger Woods and Mickelson. Neither scored a point.
It was the first time Woods, who appeared exhausted afterwards and struggled to put coherent sentences together, had drawn a blank at a Ryder Cup.
“We didn’t execute like we had planned and wanted to,” said Woods.
“For me personally, I went 0-4 which is obviously very disappointing.”