During his almost two decades in the professional golf spotlight, Rory McIlroy has been defined by his evolution, both as a player and a human being.
There is perhaps no event that better encapsulates McIlroy’s transformation from golf prodigy to generational great than the Ryder Cup. Back in 2009, McIlroy was a 20-year-old rising star who was headed toward his first Ryder Cup in 2010. But the passion that now overwhelms the Northern Irishman when he plays for his continent was nowhere to be found back then.
In fact, McIlroy famously didn’t get the fuss.
“It’s not that important an event for me,” McIlroy said in 2009.” It’s an exhibition at the end of the day. Obviously, I’ll try my best for the team, but I’m not going to go running around fist-pumping.”
In the years since, McIlroy, who is now about to make his eighth Ryder Cup appearance, has said numerous times that he missed the point entirely. What he once viewed as an exhibition has become an event closely intertwined with his soul. McIlroy helped key Europe’s historic 2012 comeback at Medinah, relished playing the villain on away soil in 2016 at Hazeltine, was overcome with emotion after a poor performance in Europe’s 2021 loss and proudly predicted Europe would win the 2025 edition at Bethpage Black while puffing his chest out in a victorious 2023 press conference.
Where once there was indifference, McIlroy now has reverence — for the event, for Europe’s history, for those who came before him and for those who will take up the torch when he is done.
McIlroy’s about-face started in 2010 when he got on the grounds at Celtic Manor for a Ryder Cup that ended with Europe winning 14.5-13.5. But it was the off-course stuff that started to speak to the golf romantic in McIlroy.
“I think it’s more the behind-the-scenes stuff: The team room, the team talks,” McIlroy said Thursday at Bethpage Black. “For me, going in as a complete rookie — look, I watched Ryder Cups growing up. I cried whenever America won at Brookline [in 1999]. Like it’s not as if I didn’t feel something when I watched Ryder Cups. I don’t know, I just — I got into that team room at Celtic Manor and I just saw how much it meant to everyone. I was like, maybe I got this wrong. You start to see how much — yeah, especially for Europeans.”
Then came a memorable conference call with legendary Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros.
At the time, Ballesteros was ailing with brain cancer. Captain Collin Montgomerie set up a conference call between Ballesteros and the entire European team, which helped cement McIlroy’s appreciation for the biennial clash.
“I remember Seve was sick, and we had him on one of those conference call things like back in the day. He’s speaking to the team, and we’re all in the team room,” McIlroy said. “This is on like the Wednesday or Thursday night. And I look around and the majority of the team is crying as Seve is talking to us. And I’m like, that’s it. That’s the embodiment of what the European Ryder Cup team is. I think that was the moment, that conference call with Seve in 2010, was the moment for me.”
Since that moment, McIlroy has joined a lineage of European Ryder Cup lions.
With Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson all gone, McIlroy and Justin Rose are now the elder statesmen on the European side.
It’s the picture of golf poetry that the kid who once failed to see why the Ryder Cup was important is now the one whom everyone follows.
“He’s obviously a great player and very skilled, very experienced,” Viktor Hovland said of McIlroy. “But also he carries a lot of weight in the team room, as well. He’s very comforting to have there. He makes everyone in the team room feel good. And I think he brings out the best in everyone in there.”
Added Jon Rahm: “He’s gone from obviously being an incredibly good player to a great Ryder Cup player to now being, I would say, the cornerstone that Team Europe needs. It’s special to have him around. He’s a heck of a superstar. My respect for his game only grows the more time I spend with him.”
McIlroy is 16-13-4 in Ryder Cups, but was dominant in Rome, going 4-1-0 to lead Europe to a convincing win.
Up next? The final step in his evolution from unbothered wunderkind to Ryder Cup lion: win another on foreign soil.
