2018 Ryder Cup: Europe 17½ USA 10½ 

After leading his side to a stunning Ryder Cup victory, Europe captain Thomas Bjorn hailed his players’ focus and teamwork in crushing America by seven points.

Following two memorable days at Le Golf National near Paris, Team Europe went into yesterday’s singles matches needing just four and a half points to secure the trophy. With seven wins out of the 12 singles matches they went on to seal a superb 17½-10½ victory.

Each of the 12 European players scored at least a point in Paris and Bjorn said it was this togetherness that helped make the team so successful.

Bjorn told Sky Sports: “We got it right this week. We worked as a team and we knew we were up against very strong opponents, but we went out on the golf course and believed in ourselves and what we stand for as a team. We never, ever looked towards... what they were about. We were about us as a team and what we do.”

Bjorn praised the team’s many qualities. “This is the best team room I’ve ever been in,” he said. “It was calm. It was determined. It was focused. It was fun. Everything that this Ryder Cup was, is what I think the Ryder Cup should be about for a European team.”

Several media outlets have reported that Bjorn will be getting a Ryder Cup tattoo after Europe’s emphatic win in France.

European stars

Among the heroes for Europe were Italian Francesco Molinari, who won all five of his matches over the three days, and Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who broke the all-time European Ryder Cup points record. Garcia beat Rickie Fowler in the singles on Sunday to move to 24½ Ryder Cup career points, overtaking the previous record holder Nick Faldo.

Garcia was one of Bjorn’s wildcard picks – alongside Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson – and their experience was a vital factor in Team Europe’s win.

USA outplayed

American skipper Jim Furyk conceded that Bjorn’s team deserved to win the Ryder Cup after the holders were outplayed on European soil yet again. He said: “They played some great golf this week. Thomas was a better captain and their team outplayed us. They deserved to win. They played well.”

How the press reacted

The US wasn’t prepared for the Ryder Cup

Paul McGinley, former European captain, writing on Sky Sports: “I don’t think the Americans were ready for the examination paper that an away Ryder Cup is. They haven’t given enough credit to the fact that their team was tired and jaded, so haven’t maybe got their schedules right and weren’t ready for the test of Le Golf National. We had the Open de France here a couple of months ago and only one player decided to come over. A few came over for practice rounds, but they were not ready for what this course poses.”

Bjorn harnessed a ‘unique European spirit’

Iain Carter, BBC golf correspondent: “For all the efforts of the United States’s so-called taskforce, the result was the same. For Tom Watson at Gleneagles, read Jim Furyk in France – an American skipper completely out-thought by his European counterpart. Huge credit should go to Thomas Bjorn for getting the most from what turned out to be a wonderfully balanced team. They produced an emphatic victory beyond anyone’s expectations.”

Europe’s ‘love-in’ laid the foundations of a crushing win

Paul Hayward, The Daily Telegraph: “Europe’s Ryder Cup team are sport’s best model for combining nations and pitting them against opponents with more money, bigger reputations, a grander array of major titles.”

Love conquers all as ‘best ever’ US team are crushed

Rick Broadbent, The Times: “Golf went wild in Paris and was all the better for it. New heroes were baptised in beer and bonhomie at the back of the 16th at Le Golf National and a US team erroneously billed as one of the best ever was humbled, beaten and embarrassed.”

Woods accepts share of blame

Sean Ingle, The Guardian: “It is now 25 years since the US have won in Europe, yet for the briefest moments during the [Sunday] afternoon they allowed themselves to entertain the impossible despite starting the day 10-6 behind. Jim Furyk’s side were ahead in four of the opening six singles and tied in two others, and Tiger was on the prowl. It turned out to be the cruellest of illusions. The final score of 17½-10½ was the third widest margin by a European team.”

It’s lunacy to say the US don’t care

Martin Samuel, Daily Mail: “Ian Poulter was prancing around dressed as a red pillar box. Tommy Fleetwood was being chaired from green to green. Francesco Molinari stood drenched in beer yet still comically serious – and someone had made off with the 16th tee marker, so Tyrrell Hatton, still playing, had to guess where to put his ball on the par three. Madness, obviously. But the real lunacy at Le Golf National was the claim the United States don’t care about the Ryder Cup. That it doesn’t matter 25 years have passed since they won in Europe. They very much want it: they just don’t know how to get it. Not on this side of the water, anyway.”

Twitter reactions to Europe’s win

A look at the best tweets from the final day at the Ryder Cup: