FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Big victories are often defined by small details.

And no, we’re not talking about feet of made putts or minute fractions of Strokes Gained data. In the wake of a drought-breaking European win at the Ryder Cup that fans on both sides won’t soon forget, Luke Donald asks you to think smaller.

For instance, the European captain shared that sometimes the stuff that matters is whether or not players have small slivers of light peeking past their hotel room doors covered up so they can rest efficiently after long days. Or comfy sheets and sufficient blankets on the beds once they got there. Or shampoo that, as Donald put it, “had a better smell.”

“Le Labo, if anyone is wondering,” joked Rory McIlroy. “It’s really, really nice.”

Two years ago, while celebrating Donald’s first Ryder Cup win as captain in Italy at Marco Simone, McIlroy proudly sat at the dais and declared that the Europeans would go to Bethpage and deliver a road victory that had eluded them since the Miracle at Medinah in 2012. Both he and Donald knew that, while possible, it would not be easy.

That’s why the details mattered, as they created a buffer for the Europeans to withstand an American comeback – one that came to fruition in a big way on Sunday but ultimately fell short. It's why Donald is now a two-time Ryder Cup champion as captain, the first European to achieve that feat since Tony Jacklin in 1985 and 1987. And it’s why, according to the man he just bested, he’s entered the upper echelon of this tournament’s illustrious history.

“In my eyes, I think he’s the best European Ryder Cup captain ever,” said Keegan Bradley. “He put his team in the best position to win, and to do that at these two places is a remarkable feat.”

Donald is the first to admit that a big key to his double-dip success is roster continuity. Eleven of the 12 players who triumphed two years ago in Rome ran it back this week, with Rasmus Højgaard swapping in for his brother, Nicolai. Donald had a head start on Bradley in knowing what pairings worked, which ones didn’t, when to press on the brakes and when to hit the gas.

He leaned hard on a firewall of veterans that delivered in a big way – McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton running the board in Foursomes. Fleetwood and Justin Rose sharing heartfelt embraces in Four-ball. Shane Lowry acting as a protective big brother alongside McIlroy when the crowd hostility reached a fevered pitch.

But he also left no stone unturned, both in leading the team to victory in Italy and in his pursuit to build on that effort this week. Donald had five vice captains at his disposal but admitted that he leaned a little harder on Edoardo Molinari than the others, as the Italian has become the de facto data strategist in finding the tiniest edge for the blue and yellow. That included moves like pairing fiery Viktor Hovland with soft-spoken Robert MacIntyre, and allowing Rahm to get the best out of Sepp Straka.

But Donald also has his finger on the pulse in other ways. Take, for instance, the scripting for this week’s team uniforms. The shirts for each day purposefully drew upon the threads worn at each of the four prior European Ryder Cup victories on American soil: 1987, 1995, 2004 and 2012.

According to Donald, the message was simple but clear. Yes, they faced a challenge in hostile territory. But this was not an insurmountable hurdle, and he sought to supply his players with a tangible reminder of just how possible a road win was.

“In 10 (road) Ryder Cups since ’83, we had won four of them and we had come damn close three other times,” Donald said. “This wasn’t an impossible task. We knew it was going to be difficult. We wanted to inspire them to know it could be done.”

It’s amazing to think that the Europeans may have found an all-time great captain somewhat by accident. Donald was likely in line to lead a Ryder Cup squad at some point in the future, but he was named as a replacement for Henrik Stenson ahead of the 2023 matches in Rome. After putting on a masterful performance at Marco Simone, he became the first European repeat captain since Bernard Gallacher led three straight teams from 1989 to 1995.

But at this point, there’s no mistaking that Donald has both found the secret sauce and cemented a gameplan that future captains will look to emulate for years to come.

“I have absolute confidence in this team, absolute confidence in our leader, Luke Donald,” McIlroy said. “The vice captains, the backroom staff, the things that people don’t see behind the scenes. I think we won in Rome, and the wheels were set in motion to try to do something that had not been done in over a decade.”

Around the halfway mark of the celebratory press conference, the players flanking Donald in the middle of the room began to pound the table with calls of “two more years” in an effort to get the Englishman to commit to leading the team for a third time at Adare Manor in 2027.

“My answer is, I’m going to enjoy tonight,” Donald said.

Enjoy it he should. With every shirt scripting, sheet change and shampoo swap, the Englishman paved the way for what he knew was a difficult but not impossible accomplishment. Now the glory is richly and deservedly his, and tonight he’ll be popping bottles with 12 men who likely would love nothing more than to have him lead them into battle once again two years from now in Ireland.