Justin Rose helped Europe stage a historic comeback in the Ryder Cup, as they beat the United States to retain the famous trophy.

Despite going into the final day trailing 10-6, Jose Maria Olazabal's team fought back to secure an improbable 14.5-13.5 win at Medinah Country Club, in Chicago.

Former North Hants member Rose produced a dramatic 1up victory against Phil Mickelson, birdieing the last two holes to turn the match on its head.

Dressed in the colours of the late Seve Ballesteros, Europe pulled off one of the Spaniard's trademark great escapes in what will go down as the "Miracle of Medinah".

Europe won the first five singles games and then picked up further points from Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia, putting them 13-12 up.

Martin Kaymer sank a six-foot putt at the last to beat Steve Stricker and ensure that Europe earned the necessary 14 points to retain the trophy.

The outright victory was secured when Tiger Woods missed a short putt at the 18th to halve his match with Francesco Molinari.

Europe's comeback matched the greatest ever final day turnaround in the history of the Ryder Cup, following on from the United States' victory at Brookline in 1999.

Justin Rose, who birdied the last two holes to beat Phil Mickelson, said: ''We are in shock.

''We wanted to believe, we really did want to believe, but we had no illusions of how hard that day was going to be; four points against a team that's played so well all week.''

Ian Poulter, who also won the last two holes to defeat Webb Simpson and make it four wins out of four this week, added: ''Ollie said to us at the start of the week, Ryder Cup is what memories and dreams are made of, and he's been awesome.

''And last night in that team room was buzzing. We weren't four down. We were all square. We just knew we had a chance and do you know what? This is history right here. This has been unbelievable.

''I'm going to enjoy it, with the best team I've ever seen, and the best captain I've ever seen, and everyone else, because this right here is special.''