Rory McIlroy is convinced that Europe can win this Ryder Cup on enemy soil. It’s not a wish or an illusion. It goes beyond that. He firmly believes it and bases it on arguments. “I love that 11 of the 12 of us are the same as we had in Rome… and the twelfth has the same DNA. We’ve won before. I feel like it’s been a really cohesive group over the last three years. We all know what to expect. We all know our roles within the team. I think that has us ready to give it our all this week,” he explains.
It’s not that a Ryder Cup needs extra doses of motivation, but just in case, Rory has no trouble reminding his teammates what a victory for Europe could mean. “If you look at the results of the last Ryder Cups, it’s not just that the home team has always won, but they’ve done so convincingly. Therefore, the team—whether Europe or the United States—that breaks that streak is honestly going to go down in history as one of the best Ryder Cup teams. And we’re here to play for that, for history and for legacy,” he points out.
McIlroy is a veteran of the Ryder Cup. After all, he’s about to play his eighth of his career. He doesn’t hide that at first, he struggled to understand the team dynamic. He arrived at Celtic Manor in 2010, his rookie year, with more curiosity than determination. More or less like saying: “let’s see why this is so important to these people.” His revelation came with a phone call. “I cried as a kid when the United States won at Brookline, it’s not that I didn’t feel something watching the Ryder, but I don’t know, I got to that locker room at Celtic Manor and saw what it meant to everyone and thought: maybe I’ve underestimated what this means. The key moment was there. Seve was ill and spoke to us via conference call, as things were done before. We were all in the team room. It was like Wednesday or Thursday night. I looked around and most of the team was crying while Seve spoke to us. And I thought: this is it. This is the embodiment of the European Ryder Cup team. I think that was the moment: that call with Seve in 2010.”
McIlroy has set himself tasks in this Ryder Cup, mainly concerning the crowd. He doesn’t hesitate to self-criticise. He admits he went overboard at Hazeltine and was too subdued at Whistling Straits. “In 2016 I was too hysterical and in 2021 too flat. I need to find the balance and that’s what I intend to do this week,” he admits. Rory insists that he can’t give lessons to others. “Everyone must find their own balance.”
In this regard, he has chosen to stay out of any potential controversy. The Northern Irishman deflected when asked about his recent exchange with DeChambeau, when the American told him he would talk in his ear during the Ryder, referring to them not speaking in the final round of the Masters, and Rory responded that Bryson always needs to talk about someone to get attention. This time he didn’t want to get into anything. He had reasons. “I promised Luke that today I would only talk about the European team. I’m going to stick to that. It’s very easy to get caught up in narratives this week and get carried away with all the rivalry and Ryder Cup history. All I want is to go out and put blue points on the board. I don’t care who it’s against. If I come across Bryson at some point, great. I think it would be great for the championship and, in a way, for us too. I just want to go out there, score blue points, and do what I can for the European team.”
