2012: A remarkable sporting year – Ian Poulter on Europe's Ryder Cup
30 September
It has been a few months since the Ryder Cup and it is honestly only recently that what we achieved as a European team has sunk in.
What has struck me most has been the reaction of people all over the world who were spellbound by the golf; for all the people involved, not only me, we have been blown away by the reception in Asia, Australia. It keeps surprising me how many people the Ryder Cup touched and how our success had so many people transfixed.
At the start of the week, the setup of the course was a big part of our discussion. The way it was set up was a slight surprise to us, they had chopped the rough right back so you could get to the greens from virtually any position. We chatted a lot about that.
As the gun went off, we all struggled to play to our capabilities. By Friday night we were being well beaten, the mood was down, all the chants were for the USA. We were being comfortably played off the pitch; it was hard to take.
José María Olazábal is one of the most passionate captains you will ever see. José was very emotional, he had been speaking about Seve Ballesteros all week, so it was tough for him and not made any easier by the way Friday went.
Saturday didn't start well at all. It was tough, listening to the USA chants, seeing that look in Keegan Bradley's eye, how excited Phil Mickelson was, how Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson were revelling in their first Ryder Cup. It was more and more intimidating for us.
Saturday afternoon was originally about damage limitation, our pride meant we wanted to avoid a hiding. We were 10-4 down, for Rory McIlroy and I things weren't happening on the course. We couldn't get going.
We took hope from what Sergio García and Luke Donald did in front of us. It was 10-5, we knew taking it to 10-6 might afford us some momentum. At 10-4, the American psyche would have been that they had two hands on the Ryder Cup.
I went back into the team room, having won our match, to find 11 team‑mates, the captain, vice-captains, physios singing. It didn't look like we were four points down. It felt like we were at least all square. Even guys who hadn't won a point seemed to have a major morale boost. There was an emotion swing.
As soon as the team sheet for Sunday was released, we spoke through all of the matches and felt we could win them all. We loved what we were seeing.
When I saw early blue colours beside the first five matches, I felt positive, but calm. The more the day went on, there was this realisation that we were about to pull off something special. For a spell, the Americans clawed back three of the crucial games in the middle of the draw but within 20 minutes it was back in our favour. The crowds went quiet.
There was a helpless feeling after my match was finished. I was left watching with José, Darren Clarke, Paul Lawrie and the other guys who had finished their matches.
The only time I felt really nervous was for Martin Kaymer's last putt. When Martin knocked it to 25ft at the last, I actually said it was all over, that we were home and dry. Then we watched Martin's putt go 6ft past, almost in slow motion. But I felt Martin had it in him to hole the putt, he had holed big ones on 16 and 17. It was uphill, slightly left to right and he poured it into the middle.
I then sampled the most amazing emotion ever on a golf course. The bit that really struck me was José, who was gripped with emotion. I saw first-hand exactly what it meant to him to win the Ryder Cup. It was then almost as if Seve had said something to him; to go over to Francesco Molinari and tell him to win the 18th. I saw a light flicker in José's mind and he went straight for Francesco. Seve would have wanted to win the cup outright.
You then had pure adrenaline. We had pulled off the unthinkable, something that is extra special when you are part of a team. It was amazing to be part of history.
Everyone had written us off. Even some of us didn't believe at one point we could do it, but we did. José said something special to every one of us, which will stay with us for a lifetime.