Victorious Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley confessed it was not till late Monday afternoon it finally sunk in he had steered Europe to success at Gleneagles.

McGinley was at home with his family when his 14-year old son, Killian began calling his father to watch a 30-minute TV highlight package of the events a day prior.

There was no tears and just pride in achieving what McGinley had dreamed of seven years earlier in leading the first of two triumphant Seve Trophy sides.

“I just didn’t have any time all week at Gleneagles for a start to watch any highlights so it wasn’t till the girls had got home from school and were doing their own thing when Killian said ‘Dad, the highlights are on TV and how the Ryder Cup was won.  Come and watch with me,” said McGinley.

Paul McGinley gets emotional in watching Ryder Cup highlights with his 14-year old son. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)

“So I sat with him for half-an-hour and watching those highlights, and seeing myself in the middle of it all and not being aware of the time that there’s people at home watching you, it was straight away I got that sense of bonding looking at the TV pictures.

“I could see the player’s body language with each other and I could see the way they were hanging out and hugging each other, and I could see the way they were communicating.  There was also the caddy involvement and the vice-captains being part of it plus the crowd interaction.

“So all of the things I hadn’t seen during the week because I was stuck in management mode that half-an-hour of watching the highlights was incredible and probably the most emotional I had been all week.

“That to me was confirmation of so many things I wanted and summed up that half-an-hour of highlights sitting there with my son, Killian.

“We nailed it.  We nailed it.  We nailed it as a team, that sense of bonding that the players had for each other.  I could see it.

“I wasn’t anywhere near the pictures, nothing to do with me.  This was about them with each other.

“I didn’t shed any tears but it was probably the most emotional I had been all week.”

And in returning back to ‘work’ for this week’s $5m Alfred Dunhill Links Championship also in Scotland McGinley found himself virtually besieged by well-wishers in arriving at Heathrow Airport and making his way to his connecting flight to Edinburgh.

“People were stopping me in Heathrow Airport today on route to Edinburgh and were just simply saying ‘thank you’, rather than congratulations.

“That to me summarises everything I want to achieve in The Ryder Cup and everything I wanted The Ryder Cup to be.

“That sense of everybody feeling so connected with the team and we did a good job for them and that’s what makes it so special.

“If you won a tournament yourself, they would be saying congratulations.  But they all were saying thank you.”