Rory McIlroy champagne moment: Ryder Cup hero suffers huge embarrassment as he pops the cork... before Europe had won

McIlroy appeared horrified that the cork had unexpectedly shot out of the bottle he was holding, but luckily his colleagues saw the funny side of it

Rory McIlroy sprays the champagne after Europe's Ryder Cup win (Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy could do no wrong. The best golfer on the planet had crushed Rickie Fowler in the Ryder Cup singles, with the Americans so-called young gun bowing out with a whimper as he lost their singles encounter 5&4.

He was the first one home on Ryder Cup Sunday despite heading out in the third match of the day, and he was quick to head over to the 17th where he watched his compatriot Graeme McDowell shoot down Jordan Spieth 2&1 to celebrate a Northern Irish double. So much for the litigators.

Henrik Stenson followed, and soon enough Martin Kaymer, Thomas Bjorn, Justin Rose and Stephen Gallacher had joined them the 17th. Kaymer had dispatched Bubba Watson comprehensively, and while Rose maintained his unbeaten record by salvaging half-a-point at the 18th against Hunter Mahan, both Stenson and Bjorn suffered defeat.

It was left to Ryder Cup rookie Jamie Donaldson to bring the cup home for Europe, and as his team-mates looked on from the fringe of the green, silence dropped over the penultimate hole at Gleneagles.

Only for McIlroy to suffer the embarrassment of all embarrassments.

Watch the video below...

The World No 1 was ready and waiting with a magnum of champagne when it decided the time was right to start celebrating, albeit prematurely, and McIlroy’s uncontrollable and schoolboy-like grin soon turned to horror as he realised he’d popped the cork too soon, turning away to try and hide from the cameras.

Of course, given the extensive Sky Sports coverage, a camera was placed right in front of him to capture his moment to forget, not that McDowell attempted to hide the hilarity of the moment as he erupted into a fit of laughter.