McIlroy completes near impossible job with Bethpage Ryder Cup mission achieved | Andy Bull

Masters champion withstood days of abuse from the US crowd and the exhaustion of five matches to help Europe over the line

In the first moments after Rory McIlroy finally won the Masters he was already thinking about this Ryder Cup. The man who'd won everything wanted to win this more than anything. It had been on his mind ever since the last one at Marco Simone, when he startled the media, his captain, and his teammates by launching into a speech about how he was targeting victory here at Bethpage.

I've said this for the last six years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup," McIlroy said back then, and that's what we're going to do".