By Amy Tennery

FARMINGDALE, New York (Reuters) -The Americans walked away without the Ryder Cup crown on Sunday but their spine-tingling fightback on the final day at Bethpage Black was plenty to be proud about, said U.S. captain Keegan Bradley.

Commentators and fans excoriated the leader of the home effort as the Americans stared down a historic 11-1/2 to 4-1/2 deficit through the first two days on Long Island, while Bradley refused to give up the fight.

He invoked his beloved New England Patriots’ legendary comeback from 28-3 to beat the Atlanta Falcons at the Super Bowl in 2017 to motivate his players, and had the clutch cool of Tom Brady as a sea of red went up early on the scoreboard on Sunday.

The U.S. came up just 1-1/2 points short – allowing Europe to eke out a rare away victo

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