The United States regained possession of the Ryder Cup on Sunday, with an emphatic 19-9 victory, the largest winning margin since the biennial match expanded to include all of continental Europe in 1979. From Rory McIlroy’s emotional post-round interview to U.S. Captain Steve Stricker’s surprising admission about Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, here’s a round-up of what both teams said following the completion of play.
Patrick Cantlay: I woke up this morning and I was trying to tell the guys, “Let’s get to 20 points,” because this is gonna be the next era of Ryder Cup teams for the U.S. side. We got a lot of young guys and I think they’re gonna be on teams for a long time and I wanted to send a message.
Brooks Koepka: It's a different group of guys. It's a lot more fun than years past. It's a very close-knit group of guys. Everybody is a bit younger and everybody has known each other for 15-plus years, it feels like.
Steve Stricker: Speechless. Everything about it. These guys all came together. Two weeks ago, they came together. Showed me a lot about this group of guys. They all showed up for the practice rounds. All the assistant captains showed up for the practice rounds. They had a mission this week and you could tell it and they played great and they came together. I mean, Brooks and Bryson wanted to play together. That’s how much it came together. So, that shows a lot about this whole team.
Bryson DeChambeau: We came together and had unity here this week. Even though we are competitors, we can all be friends and have unity.
Justin Thomas: It's such a great group of guys, great group of captains. As soon as we had our practice last week, something felt right. I said that to everyone on my team. This feels like a team that is determined, and we are all really good players. And Stricker knew that, and he did a great job of just asking us our input and just let us go play
Dustin Johnson: I did not expect to go 5-0-0. That’s for sure. But I didn’t really expect to play five matches but obviously got off to a good start, had some good partnerships there with Collin and Xander and so captain just kept us rolling.
Tony Finau: It's not about selfish accolades or individual accolades. This is a team win. I was happy to at least contribute a point to our total, and it's time to celebrate. I would have loved to add to the point total today. I wasn't able to do that, but this is about the team. We won. We showed the world kind of what we can do as a team, and I think it's the precedent for the future of American golf.
Collin Morikawa: We knew we had a very strong team. We had a lot of guys in the top 10 in the world. It means nothing until you hit that first tee shot and the guys pulled through. All 12 of these guys on my team, including myself, we just wanted to represent the U.S. as best as we could, and I think we did a pretty good job. And I don’t think this is just a win. This is a dominant win.
Rory McIlroy: It’s been a tough week. And the more and more I play in this event, I realize that it’s the best event in golf. Bar none. And I love being part of it. I can’t wait to be a part of many more. It’s the best.
Matt Fitzpatrick: It's been an amazing week. I know it's not the result that we all wanted, but you know, like we shared winning in Paris, and I've won a Ryder Cup, lost a Ryder Cup, and been on each team. The only difference was the result. Being part of Team Europe is the most amazing thing on the planet, and I love my whole team from players, vice captains, backroom staff. It's all very, very special.
Bernd Wiesberger: First Ryder Cup, just so different, the camaraderie, the team room, the banter, the fun, the joy, even in bad situations like we had on the weekend was tremendous. And very honored to be part of this team, and I'm hoping that this is not going to be my last one. I'm going to push hard to be in plenty more of these. This is a lifetime week for me.
Padraig Harrington: The U.S. were very strong. Whatever their plan was, they got it right this week, and they were a strong team. Played well. Kept the momentum. And they would have been tough to beat at the best of times, let alone when they are at top form. It's a great win for them.
Lee Westwood: I tell you what, it's not just the strongest U.S. Team I've seen, but they all played well this week, to a man, everybody performed and turned up this week. Looks like they are a team.
Sergio Garcia: I love all of them so much and am so proud of the way they played. Just have to accept it. The Americans, they played great. They made most of the right shots at the right time and most of the putts when they had to. It's quite simple.
Viktor Hovland: This week has been unreal, just how we all kind of care for each other and just the atmosphere, we can't replicate it. And these guys were awesome, and I look forward to being on another team with them.
