Robert MacIntyre has opened up about the nerve-wracking final day of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York — revealing he feared he had cost Team Europe the trophy after a missed putt.
Europe looked to be cruising toward victory after building a commanding 11.5–4.5 lead heading into Sunday’s singles. But Team USA came out fighting, mounting a spirited comeback that left several matches hanging in the balance.
Although Luke Donald’s European squad ultimately held on for a 15–13 win to retain the Cup, MacIntyre confessed he believed he had let his team down midway through his round.
“You feel as though it’s you and your caddie against America,” MacIntyre admitted. “When I teed off, I thought, ‘this will be over by the time I reach the eighth hole’ — there was so much blue on the board. But by the time I got to eight or nine, things had evened out, and suddenly there was a lot more red. It felt like it could come down to my match.”
The Scot missed a crucial putt on the 15th hole in his singles match against Sam Burns, allowing the American to go one-up. “I honestly thought, ‘I’ve just lost the Ryder Cup for us,’” he recalled.
But MacIntyre refused to fold under pressure. He rallied to tie the match, securing a vital half-point that contributed to Europe’s narrow win. “I did the exact same thing in Rome,” he said, referring to the 2023 Ryder Cup. “I missed a putt on 14 and thought the same thing — that I’d lost it. You just never stop thinking about it in those moments.”
As Team USA continued to surge, it was Tyrrell Hatton’s tied match with Collin Morikawa that clinched the decisive point, ensuring Europe’s total reached 14.5. Only then could MacIntyre breathe again.
Reflecting on the emotional rollercoaster, he drew strength from his past as a shinty player. “I just thought, ‘what would I do in a game of shinty if they scored in the 80th minute to go 1–0 up?’ You don’t drop your head — you fight back. You’ve still got time, just like in football,” he said.
In the end, MacIntyre’s resilience proved crucial, helping Europe hold firm in the face of a fierce American fightback — and ensuring another Ryder Cup triumph to remember.
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