THERE were jubilant scenes on the fairway and in the stands among many of the 140,000 spectators at Gleneagles as Europe's best golfers edged out America to retain the Ryder Cup last night.
Defeat by 16.5-11.5 meant the visitors have not won the prestigious trophy on European soil since 1993.
But there was delight among the European team, with captain Paul McGinley describing himself as "very proud of every one of these players. I couldn't have asked for an ounce more from them."
He added: "I've been involved in so many Ryder Cups and seen mistakes we've made. I've changed things a bit, bringing in the fifth vice-captain has been a factor in helping to prepare the guys, especially in the afternoon sessions, but we have had 12 players who have been awesome."
World number one golfer Rory McIlroy joined in the praise for his team-mates. The Northern Irishman said: "I can't say enough about our captain. Paul McGinley has been immense. I'm so glad it's worked out for him."
The three-day tournament, which was played in superb golfing conditions, was also hailed as the biggest in its history.
Almost 140,000 spectators from 75 countries descended on the famous Perthshire golf course. Celebrities present included former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who gave the European team a pre-event talk, and Judy Murray.
First Minister Alex Salmond said: "Gleneagles and its magnificent setting have shown the world the very best that Scotland has to offer. This event has had the finest facilities, the warmest welcome to thousands of people from around the world, and - with condolences to our US friends - the best of outcomes.
"Each day 45,000 spectators from 75 countries have enjoyed some of the best sporting moments and half a billion homes have seen the splendour of the course via TV on each day of the competition. There can be no better advert for Scottish tourism.
"It was predicted that the economic impact of staging the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles would be £100 million and I am confident that we will reach that figure or indeed exceed it."
Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland said it was a "game changer" for the country following on from the success of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
He added: "Scotland has shown through the Commonwealth Games and The Ryder Cup that we can win any global sporting, business or cultural event and that we have the infrastructure, security and event management capability to host everything from the smallest conference to a world class sporting spectacle."
Almost 500lbs of Scottish smoked salmon was served to visitors along with 20,000 beefburgers, 1,500lbs of local strawberries, 20,000 portions of fresh cod and haddock. There were also 2,400 bottles of Johnny Walker whisky served.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article