Sunday, September 26, 1999 Published at 23:09 GMT 00:09 UK
Americans win Ryder Cup
Jubilant US Ryder Cup players and wives surround Justin Leonard
Final score: USA 14½-13½ Europe
America won the Ryder Cup in amazing fashion, after Europe were blown off the Brookline course by one of the finest fightbacks in the history of the competition.
The decisive moment on an epic day came when Jose Maria Olazabal missed a 20-foot putt at the 17th.
It ensured his opponent Justin Leonard would claim at least a half-point - and took the US into a winning position.
Victory in one of international sport's greatest competitions sparked exuberant celebrations among an American-dominated crowd.
Europe's vice-captain Sam Torrance described the behaviour as "disgusting", as tempers began to fray.
Despite the bad feeling between the teams, the Europeans could not begrudge the US their victory, following a remarkable team performance.
Many of Europe's finest players, including Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Jesper Parnevik, slumped to humbling defeats as the US racked up point after point.
Only Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie and Colin Montgomerie were able to produce victories for the European team.
The damage was done early on.
Facing a four-point defecit and the prospect of losing the biennial competition for the third time in a row, the US team desperately needed to get off to a flying start in the singles.
The home team took an immediate stranglehold on the first six contests - and went on to win them all.
So alarming was the decline in the European effort that it brought captain Mark James' conservative selection policy into question.
Europe's leading players looked exhausted after being asked to perform heroics in every match on the first two days.
The three rookies who had been left out of the pairings - Andrew Coltart, Jean Van de Velde and Jarmo Sandelin - all made belated debuts on the last day.
The US effort was a true team affair - but the ultimate glory was claimed by Leonard, who pulled off an amazing individual victory.
He had been four-down to Olazabal, but holed a string of huge putts - including a 40-footer for victory at the 17th to break the European challenge.
Collated Ryder Cup results (USA first):
Sunday's concluding singles