MEDINAH, Ill. — Before we begin, let's just get this out of the way: The European team's press conference on Sunday evening was a giant post-match kegger. Beer was flowing, Lee Westwood was making siren noises (yes, siren noises), and Sergio Garcia was ... well let's just say the Spaniard was playing the role of team bartender.

So yeah, the press conference was a little crazy. If you missed what had to be the biggest press conference trainwreck in golf history (it's up there in sports history as well), don't worry: You only need to watch this clip of Garcia passing drinks and spewing beer all over the floor to understand how big the Ryder Cup is to these guys.

All year we see players like Sergio Garcia answer questions at PGA Tour press conferences and head for the exit. But when it comes to the Ryder Cup -- especially for the winning team -- players let down their guard and enjoy the moment.

The European squad certainly enjoyed themselves on Sunday afternoon. When you stage one of the greatest comebacks in golf history, there's nothing wrong with letting loose and having a little fun.

Rory McIlroy doing his best Flavor Flav impersonation. — Via @stephaniemwei

MEDINAH, Ill. — To say Rory McIlroy had an interesting Sunday at the Ryder Cup would likely be the understatement of the century. Scheduled to go off third at 11:25 a.m. CST in a must-see match against Keegan Bradley, McIlroy apparently got his time zones mixed up and had to hightail it to the course in an unmarked police car just to make his tee time.

It was a bizarre start to the day for the No. 1-ranked player in the world -- the kind that could've possibly led to an early blowout loss on the final day of the biennial competition. But even with the time zone mishap, McIlroy was able to keep it together and pull out a critical point with a 2 and 1 win over the red-hot Bradley.

After showing up late for his final-round tee time at the PGA Championship and again on Sunday at the Ryder Cup, you'd think McIlroy would invest in a personal assistant to keep him apprised of big events ... like the last day of the Ryder Cup.

While the whole assistant thing will have to wait, McIlroy has no

Luke Donald / Getty Images

MEDINAH, Ill. — The first match of the day was always going to be the most important for the European Ryder Cup team. Grab the first point and you give the rest of the squad belief. Lose and the "Rout at Medinah" would've likely been on.

Jose Maria Olazabal had to choose wisely. He needed someone who was not only reliable, but could handle the immense pressure of being first out with the Ryder Cup on the line. So he went without someone who's been there before: Luke Donald -- the former No. 1 who knows a thing or two about big match moment.

The decision to slot Donald at the top made sense on paper. However, and up until Sunday's match, the Englishman had been a major disappointment for the European squad -- he entered the week with a sterling 8-2-1 record -- going 1-2 over the first two days of the tournament.

Whether it was the pressure of playing in front of the home crowd -- Donald currently lives in Chicago and went to Northwestern University -- or just the pressure to retain the

Martin Kaymer / Getty Images

MEDINAH, Ill. — Nothing will ever wipe away the memory of Bernhard Langer's big miss at the 1991 Ryder Cup that lost the competition for Europe, but on Sunday afternoon at the 39th Ryder Cup, fellow countryman Martin Kaymer did his best to ensure Germany has a positive memory in the annals of Ryder Cup history after he rolled in the winning putt on the 18th to clinch the cup for Europe.

Playing against Steve Stricker there wasn't a reason to believe the biennial competition would come down to the second-to-last singles match. With the U.S. leading 10-6 at the beginning of the day and needing only 4 1/2 points to clinch, it looked like the match result would be a Ryder Cup footnote.

But as the day wore on and Europe picked up point after point, the match between two of the competition's biggest underachievers suddenly became the most critical on the course. Locked in a hotly contested battle for much of the day, Kaymer birdied the 13th to take a 1-up lead for the third time in the

Webb Simpson's had a memorable Ryder Cup, going 2-1 over the first two days. But during his singles match on Sunday, he had a moment he'll likely want to erase from the memory bank at the end of the day.

Holding a 1-up lead on the par-3 8th, Simpson cold-shanked his tee shot and watched as it went dead right into the woods. Normally a shank from a pro would be big news, but here's the thing: Simpson seems to hit at least one shank every month.

Case in point: the BMW Championship earlier in the month at Crooked Stick, where Simpson almost hit the exact same shot. He went on to lose the hole to Ian Poulter and is currently in a tightly-contest battle that could go either way.

MEDINAH, Ill. — Rory McIlroy is making a habit out of arriving late to the course for important tee times. One month after he admitted to oversleeping before his final round tee time at the PGA Championship, McIlroy showed up late for his Sunday singles match at the Ryder Cup.

As Keegan Bradley warmed on the putting green, the No. 1-ranked player in the world was nowhere to be found. NBC reported McIlroy wasn't on Medinah's grounds, leading many to wonder if he'd ever arrive in time for his match.

With ten minutes to go before his tee time, an unmarked police car raced into the parking lot and out popped McIlory. He sprinted out of the car and made a beeline to the practice putting green where he used a couple wedges to get loose before walking to the first tee as U.S. fans serenaded him was a chant of "Central time zone."

"My heart was racing," European captain Jose Maria Olazabal told NBC. "All of a sudden, we realized that Rory's not here. We started to look for him [on the grounds] and nobody knew."

It's still unclear why McIlroy was so late for his tee time, but the Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman tweeted that the 23-year-old was blaming the Golf Channel for the mixup. The network apparently had the tee times as Eastern Time on the broadcast, which led McIlroy to believe his 11:25 a.m. tee time was actually at 12:25 p.m.

The United States holds a 10-6 lead after Day 2 of the Ryder Cup and only needs 4.5 points to wrest the Cup away from Europe. But before Davis Love III even thinks about putting the champagne on ice, his squad has a little bit of business to attend to on Sunday.

On Saturday evening, Love and European captain Jose Maria Olazabal released their pairings for Sunday's singles session and, as you'd expect on the final day of the biennial competition, there are some intriguing pairings to keep an eye on. Here's a rundown of all 12 matches.

Match 17: Bubba Watson vs. Luke Donald (12:03 p.m. EST) — Jose Maria Olazabal front-loaded his team -- the U.S. did the exact same thing when they staged the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history back in 1999 -- in the hopes of picking up a couple points early and gaining some much-needed momentum. Luke Donald is a great leadoff for the Europeans, and you know he'll be dying to make amends for his poor play this week. Bubba Watson went 2-1 over the first two days but never really made any noise on Saturday. Donald, on the other hand, found something over his final few holes -- including a dagger tee shot on the 17th that helped Europe pick up a crucial point. We'll see if that ends up being the difference.

[Related: U.S. rolling at Ryder Cup despite Tiger Woods]

Match 18: Webb Simpson vs. Ian Poulter (12:14 p.m.) — Both Poulter and Simpson have been on this week. Poulter kept Europe's Ryder Cup hopes alive with a birdie barrage on Saturday afternoon, and Webb Simpson recorded seven birdies in a 5&4 fourball drubbing. This match could go distance the way both are playing.

Match 19: Keegan Bradley vs. Rory McIlroy (12:25 p.m.) — Send the wife and kid to the mall, because you'll want to give this match your undivided attention. Bradley has without a doubt been the hottest player on the U.S. squad and currently sports a spotless 3-0 record as a rookie. And McIlroy? He's only the top-ranked golfer on the planet. So yeah, there's a little riding on this match.

Match 20: Phil Mickelson vs. Justin Rose (12:36 p.m.) — Mickelson went 3-0 with Bradley this week, but it'll be interesting to see how he fares when his spark plug isn't there to give him a pep talk or an emotional boost. Rose went 2-2 in four matches and has a 1-1 singles record in his Ryder Cup career. He's made some big putts this week and will likely have to do it again if he wants to be Mickelson.

Match 21: Brandt Snedeker vs. Paul Lawrie (12:47 p.m.) — This has all the makings of a rout. Snedeker hasn't made a Keegan Bradley-sized mark on the Ryder Cup this week, but he's still the best putter in the game and happens to be going up against the oldest member on the European squad. Nothing against Lawrie but he's done nothing this week to make me believe he'll stage a big upset. Snedeker, on the other hand, played well in a 1-up win over McIlroy and McDowell on Saturday morning. This one won't even be close.

MEDINAH, Ill. — Europe's Ryder Cup hopes were on life support. Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson had just put the finishing touches on a 5&4 romp to extend the U.S. lead to 9-4, and with the exception of Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald, who held a 2-up lead over Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, there wasn't a single European flag on the leaderboard.

The Ryder Cup wasn't a done deal, but with cheers of "USA! USA!" echoing through the trees at Medinah and birdies falling from every conceivable spot, you started to get the feeling that the U.S. was on the verge of turning the 39th Ryder Cup into a rout on home soil.

The final two matches were critical for Europe. Win both and the chances of retaining the Ryder Cup went from non-existent to a possibility. Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia were doing their part, but Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy needed to stage a miracle comeback.

Down for much of the day, you got the sense that the anchor pairing needed to make a big putt or, at the very least, a counterpunch to turn the tide. For the longest time it looked like that putt would never come, but something happened on the 14th hole: Ian Poulter found the missing spark, producing one of the greatest big match performances in Ryder Cup history down the stretch.

Poulter started with a birdie putt on the par-5 14th that kept the pair from going 2-down ... and another on the par-4 15th to square the match ... and another on the par-4 16th to take a 1-up lead. The Englishman had found a second gear and was single-handedly keeping Europe's Ryder Cup hopes alive.

But he wasn't done. Poulter then produced a magical birdie putt on the 17th, to halve the hole, and a final dagger on the 18th to maintain the 1-up lead and win the match.

"We needed something to happen," Rory McIlroy said, "some sort of spark and I think the birdie on 13 sort of sparked us and gave us a bit of momentum. Then Ian sort of took over from there. It was good to be a part of; he was incredible on the way in. All the credit needs to be put on this man."

No doubt Poulter deserved all the credit for keeping Europe's Ryder Cup hopes alive. His five straight birdies to end the round was the kind of big-game performance you'll see on Ryder Cup highlight reels in the years to come. It also proved that the Europeans shouldn't be counted out ... at least not just yet.