Justin Rose was playing in his third Ryder Cup but his first on home soil so it was with some delight he made birdie at the 18th to halve his match with Hunter Mahan to prevent the USA grabbing another point while also finishing undefeated and the top points scorer on either team.

Rose was in need of a wildcard to make the team for Celtic Manor four years ago and failed to get one from Colin Montgomerie despite winning three of his four games at Valhalla 2008, and after also impressing at Medinah 2012 – where he beat Phil Mickelson in the singles for the second time – he continued to show he has the make-up for Ryder Cup matches after he got to Scotland.

After setting a Ryder Cup record of 12-under par in the fourballs with Henrik Stenson to beat Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar on Saturday morning in a match of 21 birdies, he teamed up with Martin Kaymer for the foursomes, scraped a half at the 18th, and did the same thing again on Sunday against Mahan in a game when he was two down after two holes.

“I feel fortunate to have got a half out of that but after being four down at one point I was working my tail out there just to try to get myself in the match with three holes to go,” Rose said. “Hunter was awesome today, he really was. He was five under through seven and threw it all at me and I responded with birdies at 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, and am just really proud of just getting back into the match.”

Mahan and Rose share the same full-game and short-game coach and are big friends, so the Englishman, who played match No4 for the third time in his three Ryder Cups, said the “honourable half point” had made him happy. “Like we did on Saturday, it’s a full point in terms of differential between the two teams. The Americans came out kicking early on today and I feel fortunate to have got a half out of it.”

Rose pointed out that Paul McGinley had anticipated how the singles might pan out and the night before had highlighted the situation with Peter Hanson at Medinah 2012, when the Swede was four down at the turn but refused to give it away and managed to get his match to the 18th hole even though he eventually lost it there. “The captain foresaw what might happen and we were ready for it,” Rose added.

Rose had practised with his friend and Lake Nona neighbour Ian Poulter for much of the buildup to the 40th Ryder Cup but though they were expected to partner one another in some, if not all, of the four-man games, it did not come to pass. Poulter was less influential than he has been, though he was involved in a cut-and thrust game with a fellow wildcard, Webb Simpson which at one point looked like it might have been critical to the outcome.

McGinley had turned up to lend moral support at the 7th hole, where Poulter had hit a great approach and again levelled his match with a birdie, and the captain greeted the Englishman with a low-five after he hit another one into the 8th green to set up the second of three successive birdies and put him into the lead for the first time.

Poulter, also watched by his parents and brother and a gallery of several thousand, slipped back to one-up when Simpson made birdie at the par-three 10th and missed a four-footer at the 14th to see the game level again before another exchange of birdies at the 17th and 18th saw the game finish level and the point deservedly shared. Poulter was keen to pay tribute to McGinley, who made him one of his three wildcard picks.

“He was absolutely brilliant from start to finish,” Poulter said. “From the pictures on the walls, from how he spoke to how he treated everybody in that team room – everyone was the same. I think he’s done an absolutely sensational job and I can’t wait to see him lift that trophy.

“The team have done an incredible job. Looking at the board, Rosey was down early and he managed to turn that match; G-Mac as well. So the guys dug in real deep and it was just incredible.”

Poulter, playing more of a bit part than galleries have come to expect, did have a say when he holed a 35-yard chip from off the green at the 15th in the Saturday fourballs playing with Rory McIlroy to help salvage half from that game, and it did serve to change the mood on the course after a tight morning which had seen the USA largely on top.

“There wasn’t enough chip-ins coming out of me this week,” Poulter said. “I would have liked to have had a few more but it’s not about that. It’s about the team things that happened. That was a nice time to chip-in, to turn that match and hold that match off really. You look at the way some of the guys were down and then they turned it to grab a half a point, and as we know, those half-points add up at the end .”