‘Seve spirit and Rory’s wrath – Donald’s Ryder Cup masterplan’ – BBC Sport

Europe’s sensational Ryder Cup victory was “fuelled” by Rory McIlroy’s furious bust up with American opponents on the second day of the match and by his team-mates invoking the spirit of the late great Spaniard Seve Ballesteros.

Donald, who insisted on leaving a vacant locker room space for the legendary Ballesteros in the European team room, also tapped into the McIlroy furore. He told the programme “we were going to use it as fuel” in a match largely dominated by the home side.

Amid tumultuous scenes, they eventually came through a “stressful” Sunday to win 16½-11½ to regain the trophy, two years after suffering their worst ever defeat at Whistling Straits.

The Ryder Cup erupted on the Saturday night after McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick were beaten on the final green by Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark. Cantlay holed a long putt, which led to his caddie, Joe LaCava, taunting McIlroy.

This was before the Northern Irishman’s own attempt to halve the match. “Walking off 18 was probably the angriest I’ve ever been in my career,” McIlroy told BBC Radio 5Live. “I said to the US guys that I thought it was disgraceful.”

Lowry witnessed the irate scenes from the side of the green and then helped bundle McIlroy into a courtesy vehicle after his team-mate became embroiled in an angry shouting match with Jim “Bones” Mackay, who caddies for US star Justin Thomas, in the clubhouse carpark.

Earlier, as the match approached its climax, LaCava had approached McIlroy waving his cap in the way European fans had taunted Cantlay for his apparent refusal to wear a hat in protest at not being paid to play for his country.

“I went on the green and I don’t want to tell you what I said,” Lowry told the BBC Sounds podcast. “But I was like ‘Joe, get off the green, what are you doing? Get out of the way’.

“Rory said to him ‘Joe, excuse me or can you move’ and he says ‘we can celebrate too’ and Rory replied ‘yeah you can celebrate but not on top of me when I’m trying to putt’.

“Look, I’m sure Joe has some regrets about it and I’m sure he kind of lost it a little bit in the circumstances, but I didn’t really expect it from him.

“Rory saw red and he saw an American, which happened to be Bones – it could have been anybody – and he kind of lost it with Bones and said a few things he probably shouldn’t have. But that’s what the Ryder Cup does to you.”

Donald did not speak to McIlroy until the European players had retired to the team room in their hotel later that evening. “I just went up to him and gave him a hug,” Donald told the podcast.

“And I said ‘I love that. I love that passion. I love the fact that this means so much to you. We might have lost that point but I think the fuel that it’s going to give us is worth more than that point.'”

According to Lowry, there was no way that McIlroy would lose his final day singles match against Sam Burns. Sent out third, the world number two won 3&1 to take Europe to within a point and a half of overall victory.

“Harry Diamond (McIlroy’s caddie) said to me on the Sunday evening, ‘Ben Hogan out of the grave wouldn’t have beaten Rory McIlroy that day’,” Lowry revealed.

Europe had put on a sensational performance, including going unbeaten on the opening day. Part of that was due to Jon Rahm’s extraordinary eagles at the 16th and 18th holes in the Friday fourballs against Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka.

A sign of the home side’s spirit was how at ease rookie Nicolai Hojgaard felt playing alongside the Masters champion in that match. When it came to the final hole, Rahm faced a lengthy putt for a three on the closing par-five to snatch an unlikely half.

“It sounds like a cliche moment, but I said ‘just go for it’, I mean it doesn’t matter if you leave it six or nine feet long,” 22-year-old Hojgaard told the programme. “They are going to make birdie and we need to make an eagle.

“I actually said to him ‘do it for Seve’, him being Spanish. Rahm’s got that Seve thing in him. It just happened all in the moment. Nothing was planned, I just said it.”

Rahm fired the putt at the hole and his ball popped into the air off the back lip before disappearing. “It’s something we laughed about after and it’s something we can talk about when we are 60 years old,” Hojgaard added.

His Spanish partner smiled: “I think Seve would have had better speed, but yeah, Nicolai was a great partner. We knew what to say to each other to motivate us.”

The podcast hears exclusive recollections from almost every player in the European line-up, as well as the captain himself. Donald reveals how he persuaded all of his team to attend a crucial pre-match Rome recce to generate the spirit that drove them to victory.

“I tried to make it sound like it was a non negotiable, that they needed to be a part of this practice trip,” the captain said. “If Ryder Cup means so much to them, which is what most of them say, then prove it.”

Having trailed 6½-1½ after the first day, the US mounted a more spirited comeback attempt and there were periods in the final session when the home skipper worried that it had all been for nothing. “It got a bit stressful for a while,” he recalled.

But Tommy Fleetwood took Europe to the promised land when he won the 16th against Rickie Fowler on that breathless Sunday afternoon. “It felt unreal, from relief to joy to kind of a little bit of exhaustion,” said the Englishman.

“You just felt so satisfied with what happened.”

It was a defining moment for Donald, who was only appointed captain after Henrik Stenson joined the breakaway LIV tour in July 2022. “I get a little choked up just thinking about it now to be honest,” the former world number one admitted.

“I think it was the whole build up. The situation that got me into the captaincy, the 14 months of preparation. It was the greatest moment in my professional career.”