MARTIN SAMUEL - CHIEF SPORTS WRITER: Ian Poulter was prancing around dressed as a red pillar box. Tommy Fleetwood was being chaired from green to green.

Many had underestimated Europe's chances heading into the Ryder Cup but this only fuelled their motivation even further, with Thomas Bjorn's side delivering a knockout punch on Sunday.

DEREK LAWRENSON AT LE GOLF NATIONAL: Victorious Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn hailed his magnificent team as the greatest European side of all on Sunday night.

Ian Poulter has paid tribute to his son, Luke, after helping Europe clinch a famous Ryder Cup win. He took to social media to post an image of himself embracing his son along with a touching message.

Harrington was one of Thomas Bjorn's five vice-captains as Europe regained the Ryder Cup with a crushing 17½-10½ points win at Le Golf National in Paris on Sunday.

Chaos ensued at a lavish party at a nearby venue with most of the team drinking from the trophy, Justin Rose dancing with pop star Niall Horan and Thomas Bjorn's squad singing 'American Pie'.

Ryder Cup vice-captain Graeme McDowell believes the key to success over the United States came down to players treating each other as equals and 'leaving their egos at the door'.

Three of captain Thomas Bjorn's predecessors in the role, Brian Huggett, Sam Torrance and Jose Maria Olazabal, delivered a series of messages designed to fire up the Europeans.

Talk has already turned to who will take charge when Europe defend their crown at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin in 2020. Rose believes Irishman Harrington is an ideal candidate

Westwood had previously expressed a desire to captain Europe at Whistling Straits in 2020, but now says he will 'wait until Rome' hosts the biennial contest in 2022 to make his bid for the role.

McIlroy raised eyebrows when he said he would focus primarily on tournaments in the United States next year and that he might not meet the European Tour's minimum event requirement.

Francesco Molinari is European Tour’s Golfer of the Year following his historic season that saw him become the first Italian to win the Open and first European to win a full five points at the Ryder Cup.

Thomas Bjorn fulfilled a promise to get a tattoo after leading Europe to a 17½-10½ Ryder Cup victory over USA in September. The Dane finally underwent the procedure.

The three-time major winner is the clear favourite to succeed Thomas Bjorn at Whistling Straits, where Europe will be bidding to defend the trophy won in Paris last year.

The three-time major winner succeeds Thomas Bjorn, as Europe bid to defend the trophy. He was announced as captain at a press conference at the European Tour's Wentworth headquarters.

MARTIN SAMUEL - CHIEF SPORTS WRITER: The idea McIlroy needs to show greater loyalty to the game on this side of the Atlantic, or risk forfeiting his place in the Ryder Cup team, is just nonsense.

Lee Westwood all but removed any doubt that he will be Europe’s Ryder Cup captain in 2022 on Tuesday when he declared the timing ‘ideal’ for him to take the reins in Italy.

The European Tour has hired former Premier League executive chairman Scudamore to help boost revenue from the Ryder Cup, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Ryder Cup winner Thorbjorn Olesen has been suspended from the European Tour after being charged with sexual assault, being drunk on an aircraft and common assault.

American Danielle Kang has stirred the pot nicely with some provocative remarks about wanting to 'crush' the Europeans and make the home supporters cry at Gleneagles.

DEREK LAWRENSON AT GLENAGLES: They used to say that the Solheim Cup was like the 'Ryder Cup with lipstick.' These days, 'with stilettos' might be a better fit.

Karlsson, who played twice for Europe as a player, performed the same role under Thomas Bjorn when Europe regained the trophy at Le Golf National in Paris last year.

WORLD OF GOLF: I blame Colin Montgomerie. It's a decade since the Scot marked the start of Ryder Cup qualifying by writing down the 12 players who he thought would make his team.

With the virus continuing to spread across the continent, threatening a host of major sporting events, UEFA have accepted that 'football must follow the orders of the individual countries'.

Josh Peck and Drake Bell have officially smoothed things over. The former Drake & Josh co-stars had a falling out back in June, when Josh failed to invite his 31-year-old friend to his wedding.

MTV Video Music Awards are reported to have upped the amount of security at the event in case Nicki Minaj and Safaree Samuels confront each other during their appearance at the awards.

Logic turned the VMAs stage into a protest against Trump's immigration policy on Monday, including dozens of families wearing 'We Are All Human Beings' shirts in his performance.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler looked radiant on the red carpet of the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, where she'll take part in a mini-reunion with some of her co-stars from The Sopranos.

Exeter Chiefs are desperate for their 'normal' squad to solve the European puzzle this year, having added Border piece Stuart Hogg. The 27-year-old Hawick-born full-back faces his old club.

Ronald Koeman has once again reiterated his desire to take over as Barcelona manager following Euro 2020 after it emerged this month that he is free to leave his Holland contract after the tournament ends.

Ronald Koeman's Barcelona exit clause has been delayed until 2021 after the postponement of the European Championships this summer.

The Duke of Sussex and Ed Sheeran have shared a sneak peek inside Princess Eugenie's Ivy cottage home at Kensington Palace, after she loaned it to them for filming.

The rapper, 40, and the Crown hitmaker locked horns in an explosive feud after Wiley accused Stormzy of preventing Jay Z rapping on a song with Ed Sheeran.

Wiley dropped a second track, titled Eediyat Skengman 2, where he threatens to 'rip Stormzy's mum's weave off of her head' and takes aim at the rapper's absent father.

The Mysterious Girl hitmaker, 46, penned: 'If you don't like each other take it to each other, don't bring each other's families into it man'

They were catapulted to fame almost 20 years ago when, as young children, they were cast as Hermione Granger and villain Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.

The actress, 29, couldn't hide her delight as she posed for a snap alongside Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch and Bonnie Wright in a photo shared to Instagram.  

Celebrity makeup artist Emma Osborne, from London, who's worked with Chrissy Teigen and Emma Watson, shared her tips on how to give your skin an A-list glow - even during winter.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hit back at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the two Republicans’ ongoing spat over national security, calling the plus-sized pol the 'king of bacon'

MasterChef winner Sashi Cheliah has been reunited with his beloved pet dog after she went missing this Sunday.

Police are looking into the possibility Isis 'sleepers' have been 'reactivated' and are plotting attacks around Europe. Two weeks ago Britain's most wanted ISIS fugitive, who has links to Jihadi John, was arrested.

Her former family home in Derbyshire is now a B&B - you can stay in her bedroom. And the museum in London that's dedicated to her has made 200 objects available to view online.

He's less than two months away from celebrating seven years of marriage to Jessica Biel, with whom he raises four-year-old son Silas.

Rory McIlroy picked up five shots in his last five holes to fly up the leaderboard and sit just one shot off the lead heading into the weekend at the Omega European Masters.

Andres Romero opened up a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the Omega European Masters but Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy were well in contention in Switzerland.

It's not only the Masters at Augusta that continues to be an elusive target for Rory McIlroy. The European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre keeps slipping from his grasp as well.

DEREK LAWRENSON AT ST ANDREWS: Rory McIlroy rounded off a fortnight's golf in Britain with six straight birdies on Sunday and a pointed barb in the direction of the European Tour.

Super League clubs have been warned they must make a seismic U-turn and reunite with the Rugby Football League if they are to survive the coronavirus crisis.

The 12 Super League clubs broke away from the RFL midway through 2018 in a bid to increase revenues with the current television deal with Sky up for renewal next year.

The 41-year-old actor was spotted in character on set in Times Square, New York City, after he was reportedly subpoenaed by the Edward Scissorhands star