FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- The United States finally put up a fight in the 45th Ryder Cup on Sunday, but Europe captured golf's biggest team prize again when it held off a furious charge from the Americans in a 15-13 victory at Bethpage Black.
Ireland's Shane Lowry's tie with Russell Henley in the eighth match gave the Europeans their 14th point, guaranteeing they would retain the Ryder Cup after they won in Italy two years ago.
England's Tyrrell Hatton then tied Collin Morikawa in the 10th singles match, giving the Europeans the 14.5 points needed to win the Ryder Cup.
The Europeans have won 11 of the past 15 Ryder Cups, including five of the past 10 on U.S. soil.
Luke Donald became only the second European captain to win back-to-back Ryder Cups, joining Tony Jacklin (1985, '87).
"I knew it would be tough," Donald said. "I didn't think they would be this tough on Sunday. They fought so hard, and all the respect to them. But this means a lot obviously to me and the team. We came here knowing that the task was very difficult."
Lowry made a 6-foot birdie on the 18th hole, after Henley left a 10-footer short, setting off a wild celebration for the visitors, who took plenty of abuse from New York fans all week.
"I've been so lucky to experience amazing things in this game but that was the hardest couple of hours of my whole life, honestly," Lowry said. "I just can't believe it. I can't believe that ball went in. I stood over it going, 'This is it.'"
After dominating the first four pairing sessions and taking a 12-5 lead into singles, the Europeans only needed two points to retain the Cup -- and the Americans made them work hard for all of them.
"They're a tough group," U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said of his team. "We didn't play our best the first couple days, but we did today. That was really fun today. We had all of our fun in one day here at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage."
The U.S. won five of the first six matches and tied another to finally put pressure on the Europeans.
Scottie Scheffler, who was in danger of becoming the first American golfer to go 0-5 in the event, picked up his first point when he defeated Rory McIlroy 1 up in the first match between golfers ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the world ranking.
"Battled really hard yesterday and the first day," Scheffler said. "Things just did not work out the way I anticipated, but I was proud to be able to get a point today. It's tough; playing all five matches is a grind. Rory and I even chatted about that a little bit today. It was a grind, and I'm pretty tired, but I'm proud of the fight that our team showed."
Bryson DeChambeau was 5 down to England's Matt Fitzpatrick after seven holes, but rallied to tie his match with four straight birdies.
Ryder Cup rookie Cameron Young, a New York native who set the Bethpage Black scoring record as a 20-year-old, picked up the Americans' first point when he defeated England's Justin Rose 1 up in the first match. Young was 3 up after 12 holes, but Rose won three of the next four holes to tie the match. After Rose missed a 14-foot birdie try on No. 18, Young made a 12-footer to win the match, cutting the Europeans' lead to 12-6.
Two-time major winner Xander Schauffele then took down Spain's Jon Rahm, who had been a thorn in the Americans' side all week, in a 4-and-3 victory that made it 12-7.
Justin Thomas provided the spark that really made the Americans believe they might have a chance to come back when he made a 12-foot birdie on the 18th hole to take down England's Tommy Fleetwood 1-up. That trimmed the Europeans' advantage to 12-8.
Sweden's Ludvig Aberg's 2-and-1 win over Patrick Cantlay moved the Europeans within a half-point of victory, leading to Lowry's clutch win on No. 18.
The Americans picked up a half-point even before the singles matches started when Norway's Viktor Hovland was forced to pull out of the Ryder Cup because of a neck injury. He was scheduled to play in the anchor match against Harris English.
The substitution rule in the captains' agreement requires each team to submit the name of one player in a sealed envelope who wouldn't play in the case of an injury to a golfer on the opposing team. It happened to be English, who had to watch the action on Sunday.