Two years ago, after Europe’s dominant victory over the United States at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone, Rory McIlroy confidently sat on the dais and offered a prediction that has echoed throughout the golf world ever since it left his lips in Italy.
“I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup, and that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage,” McIlroy said.
The Northern Irishman laid down another marker at the start of this season when he outlined the remaining goals he wanted to accomplish in his career: win the Masters, win an Olympic medal and win an away Ryder Cup.
McIlroy checked off the first with a historic win at Augusta National in April. An expected post-Masters malaise followed as McIlroy searched for motivation to climb another mountain after finally summitting his Everest. But McIlroy found himself again at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, and his win at the Amgen Irish Open reminded us of what he has been saying for a while: When the events that matter to him arrive, he doesn’t need to find the motivation.
While McIlroy once saw the Ryder Cup as nothing more than an exhibition, the biennial event has become rooted in his golfing soul as he has matured and grown to understand the importance of the event. So it’s no surprise that Paul McGinley, who will serve as a strategic adviser to European captain Luke Donald at next week’s Ryder Cup, saw a locked-in McIlroy during the team’s recent scouting trip to Bethpage Black.
“Rory reveled the last two and a half days,” McGinley said on a conference call this week. “He was on a high. Being around the guys, having a crack, having a banter, being one of the guys. Not being Rory McIlroy, the mega superstar that everybody draws on his time. Nobody was drawing on his time. You could see how much he loved being around in that environment. And I’ve no doubt that his performance in the K Club was related to stepping up again and getting mentally engaged, getting ready for what he has put down at the start of the year as one of the biggest goals in golf is to win an away Ryder Cup.”
McIlroy hasn’t backed down from his prediction that Europe will be victorious at Bethpage Black. In a motivational video sent to Great Britain and Ireland’s Walker Cup team, McIlroy ended it with a promise to take the cup back to Europe after a three-day duel at “The People’s Country Club.”
“As someone who played a Walker Cup and wasn’t able to quite get it done, and then to go on to play Ryder Cups and be able to beat the Yanks in their own backyard, nothing feels better,” McIlroy said in the message. “Please beat them because I know we’re going to beat them at Bethpage.”
McIlroy also got in on the pre-Ryder Cup festivities when he jabbed Bryson DeChambeau in an interview with The Guardian’s Ewen Murray. Murray asked McIlroy about DeChambeau’s plan to “chirp” him if the two face off at Bethpage, which led to a dismissive response from the five-time major champion.
“I think the only way he gets attention is by mentioning other people. That is basically what I think of that. To get attention he will mention me or Scottie [Scheffler] or others,” McIlroy told the Guardian.
This brings us back to McIlroy’s pledge two years ago to beat the Americans at Bethpage Black. It’s a clip that American captain Keegan Bradley has shown to his team as a motivational tool. You could call it bulletin board material for the Americans, but it might end up being a weapon for Europe by bringing out the best in McIlroy.
McGinley knows McIlroy well and has watched his star rise over the past two decades. He knows that when Rory McIlroy really wants something, the best version of Rory McIlroy usually arrives. Given everything McIlroy has said about Europe’s chances to win at Bethpage, McGinley believes Europe is set to get that out of McIlroy at Bethpage Black.
“The thing about Rory is, he’s always been a volatile performer,” McGinley said. “Rory’s success and Rory’s career has never been a straight line. You could look through it. There’s been loads of dips in his career. You know, when he won major championships, he kind of dipped. He’s had loads of dips in his career, and then he comes roaring back. Rory is charismatic. Rory is dynamic in how he plays. He’s a risk taker and he draws people in because he kind of plays in the Arnold Palmer style.
“Rory’s personality is in and out. He gets a flourish and he looks unbeatable and then he looks like he’s going to miss the cut. But then he comes back again. One of the things you can always say about Rory – we call him Pointy Elbows of Ireland – when he’s got something in his sight line, he generally achieves it. He generally performs when he’s really passionate about achieving something. When he’s mentally engaged, that’s what he normally delivers. And, having seen him the last two and a half days, he will be ready.”
As for that proclamation at the end of the 2023 Ryder Cup, McIlroy feels even better about it now than he did then.
“I am maybe more confident than I was then,” McIlroy told Murray at the 2025 Tour Championship at East Lake. “Obviously, I said that in the euphoria of winning the Ryder Cup, but I think with everything that has happened since; the way our team is shaping up, Luke agreeing to be the captain again, having the continuity of the team the way it is, the form of the European all of this year, but especially leading into this event.
“If I compare it to the last two away Ryder Cups that I have played, I would say we are in a way better spot. I still believe we are the underdogs but feel more confident than I was in 2016 and 2021 that we can pull it off.”
Rory McIlroy’s post-Ryder Cup words might wind up coming back to bite him next week at Bethpage Black. Or perhaps McIlroy will end his year the way he started it: By summoning the best of his game to add another line to his Hall of Fame resume while cementing his Ryder Cup promise as part of his lore.
Either way, McIlroy’s words will wind up telling the story of a victorious European upset or another home win for the Americans.
