Lifting the Ryder Cup on Sunday might have been an emotional moment, but Paul McGinley got the same exact feeling sitting on the sofa at his home in Dublin on Monday night.
Europe’s victorious captain had been so caught up in preparing and planning the defeat of the USA at Gleneagles that he hadn’t actually had time to watch it.
And when his son Killian convinced him to sit down for a minute and do so, he realised what he had most wanted had happened and it wasn’t even winning.
“When I watched the highlights, I saw the players, how they reacted with each other, the body language,” he said on arriving at St Andrews for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and his first tournament back as a regular tour player again.
“I’d been so caught up with everything I hadn’t had the chance to see that, but this is what the Ryder Cup’s about.
“It’s not Rory McIlroy hitting it 340 down the middle of the fairway, although that does help. It’s the way they celebrated with each other, the way they talked to each other, that sixth sense between people, that’s natural, that’s not forced.
“The emotion I felt watching was the same as I had when I lifted the trophy. It’s what I wanted most out of the whole weekend.”
He saw that too in the now infamous picture on Twitter of Rory McIlroy and Stephen Gallacher at the victory celebration, which features the world No 1 in a wig and mini-kilt and the Scot in more sober, usual attire.
“That picture summed it up for me,” he continued.
“Stevie and Rory live different lives. Rory is in a stratosphere nobody is close to. Stevie is a local boy who has had an incredibly great year to make the Ryder Cup team.
“There he was with the superstar that Rory McIlroy is, and the two of them were so comfortable in each other’s company. That’s special.”
McGinley freely admits that he hasn’t come down from the euphoria yet strangers were thanking him in Heathrow Airport on his way to St Andrews for the Dunhill but knows it will come in the next few weeks.
“We are still basking in the glow, and we’ll enjoy this for a few more weeks,” he said.
“There will be a time and a place when we let go. And I’m 100% convinced in my head that I am letting go.
“So don’t even raise the question that I’ll be being the captain going forward, same with the vice-captaincy role.
“But having said that, I’ll be there for the next 20 years, 30 years, if anyone wants to ask a question, and if they don’t that’s no problem, as well.”
Now McGinley returns to the day job, his business interests, and his young family.
“My game has not been up to the standard the last four or five years, I can see that,” he said.
“I’m not going to go back and play a full schedule again. I’m exempt next year and I can see myself playing 14 to 15 events on the European Tour.
“I’m very lucky, lucky to be coming off the back of a successful Ryder Cup, it gives a great sense of pride for me personally, but I’m looking forward to playing again.
“That’s the message I gave to the players on the Saturday night. I have enjoyed every minute of being a captain, it’s been an incredible honour, an incredible privilege.
“But nothing beats playing.”
Meanwhile, defending champion David Howell is an injury doubt ahead of the defence of his Dunhill title.
Howell, who won his first European Tour title for seven years by beating Peter Uihlein in a play-off 12 months ago, is struggling with a neck problem on the eve of the pro-am event played at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
“I woke up this morning and my neck is in pieces so I wouldn’t be teeing off if it started today,” Howell said.
“So fingers crossed feeling better tomorrow but I am feeling a bit cheesed off to say the least.
“I’ve had treatment and I’ll go for treatment again, so we’re trying everything to feel all right in the morning.
“The body is a strange thing, sometimes it goes into spasm and then eases off overnight and this came on overnight. It doesn’t bode overly well. I was really looking forward to getting back to links golf.”