Rory McIlroy reduced to tears after Luke Donald's emotive Ryder Cup answer

If you needed any further proof of exactly what winning a Ryder Cup means to Luke Donald's Team Europe, then please just spend the next couple of minutes watching the now two-time winning captain reduce Rory McIlroy to tears during his latest interview.

Donald, at least for us here at GolfMagic, is now the greatest Ryder Cup captain of all time. 

Whether he continues to take the reins for a crack a record threepeat at Adare Manor in two years time remains to be seen.

Although he is somewhat sceptical right now, we think he will keep hold of the captain's armband once he's had time to sit down and contemplate it further with wife Diana. 

But for now, Donald and his team are revelling in the moment after securing an incredible 15-13 victory away from home against Keegan Bradley's Team USA at Bethpage Black in New York.

Europe become the first away side to win the Ryder Cup since Medinah in 2012. 

Bethpage proved to be one of the most, if not the most hostile environment the European Ryder Cup team has experienced in the biennial contest, especially for a certain McIlroy who had to deal with all sorts of abuse and insults out there  to not just himself but also his wife Erica.

A drink even got thrown at them. 

While McIlroy and plenty of other Europeans lost their Sunday singles match, the Northern Irishman finished the week with a brilliant 3.5 points from five sessions to see him move ahead of Jose Maria Olazabal into seventh place with 21.5 points in the all-time European points list. 

McIlroy is now just a point behind late great Seve Ballesteros, and just seven points behind all-time record holder Sergio Garcia. 

It seems inevitable that McIlroy, who has now won six Ryder Cups in eight appearances, will surpass the Spaniard who invited him to be groomsman at his wedding. 

When pressed to speak further McIlroy's place in Ryder Cup history, having moved a step closer to the all-time record points total, Donald spoke glowingly of his star man - and the rest of his team. 

"Ryder Cup weeks are the best weeks of our lives," said Donald, with McIlroy sat beside him.

"We talk about this all the time. Those individual accolades are fun. Individually, we want to achieve as much as we can. Rory has achieved so much in the game. His place in history is set.

"But I think those weeks we spend together are the ones we remember the most and the ones we cherish the most because of the time we get to spend with each other. That's a big part of my captaincy is to create an environment where these guys are having the best weeks of their lives, honestly. We'll always remember this. We'll always go down in history.

"We talk about all the people that came before us that paved the way for us. Now future generations will talk about this team tonight and what they did and how they were able to overcome one of the toughest environments in all of sport.

"And that is inspiring to me and that's what Rory gets and all these other 11 guys get, as well."

Watch McIlroy shed a tear as Donald opened up on the special European team bond: