Ryder Cup 2014 - Day 3 report: Jamie Donaldson clinches Ryder Cup victory for Europe at Gleneagles

Rory McIlroy got the first point on the board for Europe

Captain of Team Europe Paul McGinley of Ireland holds the trophy after Team Europe retained the Ryder Cup (GETTY IMAGES)

He did not get to hole the winning putt. He didn’t have to. Gareth Bale could not have hit it closer than Jamie Donaldson’s spear to the 15th green. “The wedge of his life”, he called it, straight through the heart of America to win the Ryder Cup.

The vanquished Keegan Bradley removed his cap and extended his hand. It was all over. The board showed 14½ points to 9½ , Europe home with four matches still on the course.

That’s a thumping. The final margin of victory read 16½ to 11½ , Sergio Garcia providing the post-Donaldson highlight with his win at the last against Jim Furyk.

Donaldson, the quiet man from Pontypridd, is the least expressive member of this group. That the coup de grâce should have been his to deliver and not The Postman’s in the match ahead, Ian Poulter, was a shot in the arm for ordinary Joes from Ponty to Paris.

He had a putt for the cup on the 14th. It missed but the par gained guaranteed at least 14 points, enough to keep the pot in Europe were the champagne moment to be denied him. It wasn’t.

“Obviously I know I’m four up with four to play and hit a really good tee shot down 15 – just a perfect yardage and the wedge shot of my life to close the game out,” said Donaldson.

“I can’t really put words to it. It’s unbelievable. I knew it was all getting tight there at the end and everybody building at my group.

“I was just trying to not spend too much time looking at the scoreboard and just concentrate on my match, and that’s what I did, and was able to do it well enough to close it out.”

Jamie Donaldson of Europe is congratulated by Europe team captain Paul McGinley on the 15th hole shortly before Europe won the Ryder Cup (GETTY IMAGES)

They all played a part, of course. The first arms Graeme McDowell fell into were Rory McIlroy’s, a man hug of unity on the 17th green that summed up another marvellous day for European golf.

The two players on opposite sides of a courtroom dispute, which for Phil Mickelson represented a cheeky weak point along the blue axis, re-inforced their unbreakable bond to return the first two points in the pursuit of glory.

McIlroy demolished Rickie Fowler. McDowell, three down after five holes, climbed out of a big hole to fashion a remarkable victory over Jordan Spieth, one of the great performances of this or any day by the Ulsterman.

“It doesn’t matter where you are on the golf course – five up, five down – try to win the next hole and try to send a signal to your team-mates. That’s what it was all about and that’s what kept me going on the front nine holes,” McDowell said.

“He missed a putt on seven to go four up. That was a massive turning point for me mentally and something clicked.

“I found my swing on those last 10 or 11 holes, and I needed it. The guy is a quality, quality player and I’m so proud to get that point.”

Europe required only four at the start of play to retain the trophy but that was never going to be enough for captain Paul McGinley and the European ideal he represents.

McGinley wanted absolute mastery, a victory worthy of a group led by a talent as great as McIlroy’s – the best player in the world – and supported by fellow top-fivers Garcia and Henrik Stenson, not to mention Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer.

McIlroy was something else, a rhapsody in blue, giving a performance of which only a few in any sport are capable.

He said he was more up for this day than he was on the Sundays of his two recent major wins. That is how much the responsibility that comes with collective representation meant to him.

Sir Alex Ferguson has seen a few things in his time, managed the odd superstar here and there and in McIlroy recognised a talent as special as Ronaldo’s, Cantona’s, Beckham’s et al.

He said in the aftermath of a sixth win in seven contests that he gained more from the company of McIlroy and his European team-mates than he contributed in his inspirational pre-match address.

Fergie would have appreciated McIlroy’s sentiment after the crushing of Fowler: “I knew Paul wanted to play me up the order. I was very comfortable with that,” he said.

“I knew what was expected of me and I knew what I expected of myself. I was probably more up for this day than I was the first two. I was just so up for it, there was no option other than to win. I played my best golf of the week.”

Rose was, over the piece, Europe’s outstanding performer. He battled through the storm that was Hunter Mahan on Sunday and fatigue born of playing every session to contribute a half – an outcome that looked unlikely when he fell four behind on the sixth green.

Mahan was playing staggering golf and birdied the seventh to threaten a rout, but Rose was also in for three and thereafter went after his opponent with the relish that made him Europe’s most prolific points scorer.

Six birdies in seven holes took the match the distance and Rose got his man at the last when Mahan conformed to his personal Ryder Cup template and flunked a chip across the green to give Europe a half and Rose a total of four points from five outings.

Kaymer chipped in at the 16th for an eagle to see off Bubba Watson 4&2 and detonate perhaps the best individual celebration of the day, a double-handed fist pump that continued on one knee before erupting across the green.

Poulter had to settle for a bit part here, though he did preserve his unbeaten singles record with a half against Webb Simpson via a birdie at the last.

“There weren’t enough [moments] coming out of me this week, I would have liked to have had a few more, but it’s not about that. It’s about the team,” Poulter said.

“You look at the way some of the guys were down and then they turned it to grab a half a point and, as we know, those half-points add up at the end of the week.”