Rory McIlroy already can’t keep the smile off his face in Italy as Europe prepare to try and win back the Ryder Cup that they lost in such miserable fashion two years ago. The Northern Irishman was reduced to tears on that most humbling of Sunday singles days as the USA cruised to a record 19-9 victory.
McIlroy won his match against Xander Schauffele in the opening tie of the final day, but it was the only point he earned for the European team all weekend and as it turned out, much too little too late.
Following his round, the current world No. 2 couldn’t hold back the tears as the pain of pending defeat hit him hard, but his love for the tournament and his teammates was wholly evident.
Since then, McIlroy has displayed that type of golf that reaffirms the view that he is still one of the very best players competing in the sport today. After the disappointment of Whistling Straits he won his very next tournament and has triumphed in another four since.
The fifth Major title of his career still eludes him, despite a near-miss at the US Open, but he has arrived at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in top form, ready to lead the European fight back.
McIlroy has the respect of his peers and never more so was that evident than when he was chosen to head of first on the Sunday for Team Europe at Whistling Straits even though he hadn’t won a point all weekend.
“It was a huge vote of confidence because I was pretty low that Saturday,” he told The Guardian in Rome ahead of this weekend’s showdown. “I had sat out the morning and lost in the afternoon. It was the lowest I had felt at a Ryder Cup. I would rather have been hidden somewhere in the middle of the order but that gave me a purpose. It gave me something to really, really get up for. It refocused me and got me into a different mindset.
“There was a lot going on. The team standing up and wanting me to go out first, to lead them, after the week I had meant a lot to me. That was part of the reason I got emotional, I felt like the whole team had my back. I felt empowered and a responsibility to go out there and win a point.
“It didn’t end up mattering in the Ryder Cup but the whole thing meant a lot to me. That was a pretty big moment in my Ryder Cup career but think of the struggles I had leading up to that and what I did afterwards. The whole run from the end of 2021, all of 2022, this year as well. It all started from that last day at Whistling Straits.”
Early on in his career, McIlroy had once somewhat naively branded the Ryder Cup as an exhibition event, but the regard in which he holds the biannual competition today could hardly be any more different.
The 34-year-old has seen and done it all in professional golf but his connection with his European team-mates and the partisan crowd makes this pulsating team matchplay event a unique sporting experience.
McIlroy said: “You are in your little bubble for the week. No sponsor obligations; it’s commercial in terms of the platform but, for us, there is no being led around in any kind of show. You are in with the team and that is your little world. That is your family for the week. This is the purest form of the game. We don’t get paid a penny.
“It is the biggest platform that we have in golf, the biggest stage. The Ryder Cup, there is something different about it. There is something about wanting to do yourself justice but also playing for other people. You get so close with the guys during Ryder Cup weeks. And especially on the European side there is a nice continuity there.
“We have these experiences together and nobody can ever take them away from us. I have said this before but I am always going to be proudest of my accomplishments in the game as an individual but my most enjoyable moments, by far, are as part of the Ryder Cup team.”
