FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — The ball tumbled into the cup, then Shane Lowry leaped and got huge air.
A moment later, the green, white and orange Irish tricolor came flying from the stands. Lowry, still shaking after a putt that punctuated a high-drama afternoon at Bethpage Black, snatched it up and held the flag high.
No wonder he lives for the Ryder Cup.
With a sure thing slipping from Europe's grasp Sunday, Lowry hit a perfect drive straight down the
18th fairway, hit the approach to 6 feet, then drained the putt that gave his team the harder-than-expected 14th point it needed to bring the cup home.
Walking up the fairway, Lowry told his caddie "I have a chance to do the coolest thing in my life here. And like, the Ryder Cup means everything to me.”
Europe went on to win 15-13. A bonus for the 38-year-old Irishman — Europe will defend the cup two years from now in Limerick, Ireland.
What a great two years it will be for Lowry, who adds his name to a long list of Irish golfers who have come up big at the Ryder Cup: Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Christie O'Connor, Phillip Walton.
The Ryder Cup is, of course, bigger than one country — in Europe at least — and nobody has bought into the importance of this biennial event more than the brawny Irishman who recorded one of the most memorable draws in the history of the cup.
He won his only major, the British Open, at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Now, he'll go down as the man who saved the day at Bethpage.
“I’ve been so lucky to experience amazing things in this game," Lowry said. “That was the hardest couple of hours of my whole life, honestly.”
This was expected to be a drowsy Sunday, thanks in part to Lowry's putting over the first two days of the tournament. With his partner, Rory McIlroy, fending off a hostile crowd, it was Lowry who made testy putts of 8, 5 and 5 feet over the last four holes to hang onto a 2-up victory in Saturday fourballs.
At the time, it looked like piling on. Europe started singles with a 12-5 lead, the biggest ever under the current format that dates to 1979.
When European captain Luke Donald tabbed Lowry to go off in the eighth match against Russell Henley, who had struggled all week, it had the makings of a match that would conclude long after the victory cigars had been lit.
As it turned out, Europe won only one match the entire day, and needed every point, and half-point, it could get.
“We knew this would be tough,” Donald said. “We didn't know it would be this tough.”
With Europe’s lead down to three, Lowry was facing a 2-down deficit walking to the 15th tee box.
He drew within one with an approach to four feet for a birdie. Lowry headed to 18 needing to win the hole to pull out the crucial half-point. Henley drove into an uphill lie in a bunker but hit his shot to 10 feet. Lowry then stepped up and put his approach inside of Henley's, but four feet closer on the same line.
A few minutes later, he was celebrating a victory that had seemed sure when the day started, but turned into one of the more dramatic wins in the history of the cup.
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