By Alistair Magowan

Tiger Woods hugs Darren Clarke after his victory on Sunday

Northern Irishman Clarke won all three of his matches having recently mourned the death of his wife from cancer.

Woods said: "For him to come and play is one thing, but for him to play as well as he did, with as much time off as he has taken, that was remarkable.

"We're big friends and I'm very proud to see him play as well as he did," Woods added.

Clarke's victories in two fourballs matches and in Sunday's singles helped Europe to their third consecutive Ryder Cup triumph.

His emotional finale at the K Club, where he beat Zach Johnson in the singles, was one of the more touching moments in a weekend where European team spirit was hailed over American individualism.

But Woods was clinical in his assessment on why the American team struggled as they slipped to their fifth defeat in six Ryder Cup outings.

"It's pretty simple," he said after topping America's point scorers with three out of five.

"Europe made more putts. They won more matches on the 18th than we did and they holed more putts.

"All the Cups that I've been on, Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups, the winning team always holes more putts.

"We got into position to make them but we never did."