"This was about men like McIlroy, Rose and Kaymer and their wildly exciting journeys to scale the summit of their sport."

Exceptional read from Derek Lawrenson on the anatomy of a Sunday surge for Team Europe, with an emphasis on the stories of Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer and Justin Rose.

A few more details on Rory's near-disaster Sunday.

After ignoring a couple of calls from numbers he didn’t recognise, McIlroy eventually answered one from his manager, Conor Ridge.

‘Are you at the course?’ asked Conor.

‘No, I’m not,’ replied McIlroy.

‘You’re teeing off in 25 minutes.’

‘No, I’m not, it’s an hour and 25.’

‘You’re taking the mick, you’re at the golf course.’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Rory, listen to me, you need to get there.’

So it was that McIlroy sprinted into the lobby and found the state trooper who might have been the American star of the final day. With the emergency light on and every speed limit broken, McIlroy sat in the patrol car on the edge of panic.

‘It would have been bad enough missing my tee-time playing for myself but letting down all my team-mates and the whole of Europe? I’ve never been so worried in my life,’ he confessed.