There was still a glint in Shane Lowry's eye as he sat down for the team press conference after Europe's Ryder Cup win.
He said that winning it was something he always wanted to do and he insisted that this was the best week of his life.
The Offaly man took part in three matches, two foursomes and a single, and he ended his second Ryder Cup with 1.5 points on the board.
Alongside Sepp Straka, he got off to a great start when beating Collin Morikawa and Rickie Fowler two and one in the Friday morning foursomes. Lowry and Straka were then over-turned on Saturday, with Brian Harman and Max Homa taking them out four and two.
Next up was a singles clash with Jordan Spieth. Lowry was chasing his tail early on, trailling three down at one stage but he kept fighting and as he made headway through the back nine, it looked like he might have had a putt to win the tournament on seventeen.
As it turned out, Tommy Fleetwood had already won the trophy for Europe, beating Rickie Fowler three and one on the 16th.
"It was an interesting day," said Lowry afterwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4H0tp2KTW4
"Myself and Tommy and Bob were in the locker room before we went out, joking and hoping it wasn't going to come down to our matches.
"And I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the board, to be honest.
"Those last couple of hours, they were probably two of the most stressful hours on the golf course I had, but I felt like I was playing good golf.
"Jordan got up early. I didn't give much away. He played pretty good today. But I fought hard, and I just knew I needed to fight hard for my team and once I did that, I knew I'd be okay.
"I knew Tommy was one up playing sixteen, and I saw Rickie hit it into the water, and I thought if I could birdie 17,
that I was going to have a putt to win the Ryder Cup," he said.
[caption id="attachment_293532" align="alignnone" width="1280"]
ROME, ITALY - OCTOBER 01: Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy of Team Europe celebrate victory on the 18th green following the Sunday singles matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on October 01, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)[/caption]
"So selfishly, I was thinking, I'm going to have a putt to win the Ryder Cup, this is going to be amazing" he added.
At this point Tommy Fleetwood, as you'll see in the Youtube clip above at 13.50, had the whole European team in stitches as he raised his arms in celebration.
"But thankfully Tommy did it before me and you know I was on the green on 17, and I somehow holed the putt," continued Lowry.
"On 18, I hit my drive, I didn't care where it went."
"I was walking down and I was thinking, 'right I'll try and win my point,' but I was like whatever, I don't really care. I said it at the start of the week, I don't care if I make no points, as long as we win."
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