'Relentless' focus key for Europe, says Rose
The mood was jolly as Europe's players faced the media at Le Golf National, but Justin Rose said it was the first time they had relaxed.
Published : Oct 01, 2018 09:38 IST
As Team Europe celebrated Ryder Cup success in a light-hearted and predictably euphoric news conference, Justin Rose highlighted their "unbelievable" focus as the key to their victory.
The United States briefly threatened to pull off a tremendous comeback at Le Golf National, having trailed by four points ahead of the singles, but Europe ultimately triumphed by 17.5 points to 10.5.
Every single home player contributed at least one full point to Europe's triumph and Rose, who was beaten in the singles by Webb Simpson as the USA started Sunday strongly, hailed their collective determination.
"Along this line right now, you see a bunch of guys who are elated and you see a bunch of guys enjoying the situation and you see a bunch of guys having drinks to celebrate," said Rose as Europe's players and captain Thomas Bjorn faced the media.
"What this team did was not drop their guard until this moment right here. This team was relentless in its pursuit of excellence. We ticked every box we could control all week long, whether it be recovery, nutrition, practise rounds. Our focus was unbelievable this week.
"Thomas didn't fill our week with pointless team meetings. He trusted us to be 12 players that would come together, and today trusted us to be 12 individuals working towards the same common goal. And that was his strength.
"And I think that we didn't drop our guard all week long. We stayed on point as a group, and everybody, the discipline that we showed got us to this point where we can now let our hair down and now really drop our guard hard."