Reaction from Ryder Cup winners and losers

MEDINAH, Illinois (Reuters) - Selected quotes from the winners and losers after Europe beat the United States by 14-1/2 points to 13-1/2 to win the 39th Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club on Sunday:

EUROPE CAPTAIN JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL: "Seve (Ballesteros) will always be present with this team. He was a big factor for this event, for the European side, and last night when we were having that meeting, I think the boys understood that believing was the most important thing, and I think they did."

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EUROPEAN PLAYER MARTIN KAYMER: "This is indescribable. I was so nervous in the last two or three holes. Now I know how it really feels to win the Ryder Cup."

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EUROPEAN PLAYER JUSTIN ROSE: "We are in shock. We really wanted to believe but we had no illusions of how hard that day was going to be."

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EUROPEAN PLAYER IAN POULTER: "Ryder Cup is what memories and dreams are made of. We just knew we had a chance and you know what, this is history right there. This has been unbelievable."

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EUROPEAN PLAYER LUKE DONALD: "My job, as the guy leading off, was to go out there and get the first point and put some blue on the board early. Hopefully I gave the guys plenty of inspiration."

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EUROPEAN PLAYER GRAEME MCDOWELL: "It will be beers and tears tonight. The Ryder Cup is coming back to Europe."

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EUROPEAN PLAYER RORY MCILROY: "It is the most special and unique golf tournament we have, period. There's nothing better than celebrating a win with your teammates."

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U.S. CAPTAIN DAVIS LOVE III: "I don't have a reaction yet, we are all kind of stunned. It's a little bit shocking. We were playing so well, everyone on our team was playing so well."

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U.S. PLAYER ZACH JOHNSON: "The Ryder Cup is the best thing I've experienced in golf. I don't know if there's anything relatively close."

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U.S. PLAYER STEVE STRICKER: "We'll pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and we're resilient. As golfers you have got to be. It's the nature of the game."

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U.S. PLAYER PHIL MICKELSON: "I just thought if I won my match, there's a bunch of red behind us and it would be just fine."

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U.S. PLAYER TIGER WOODS: "We came here as a team. This is a team event. And the Cup was already been retained by Europe, so it was already over."

U.S. PLAYER JIM FURYK: "We wanted to win the Ryder Cup as a team and we didn't do it, but we are going to leave here in the same fashion."

(Compiled by Julian Linden; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)