Ryder Cup convert McIlroy ready for event he once dismissed
Northern Irishman once described the tournament as ‘an exhibition event’
Rory McIlroy has come a long way from dismissing the Ryder Cup as “an exhibition event” of little importance to becoming fully established as one of the European team leaders who cannot wait to soak up the experience for a fifth time.
McIlroy was a 20-year-old when he derided the biennial event as something not among his goals, but the four-time major winner soon started to understand its special place in the calendar the following year on his debut at Celtic Manor.
“Going into my first Ryder Cup, I didn’t know what all the fuss was about. I still thought it was this team event that really doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things,” the 29-yearold told a news conference at Le Golf National yesterday.
“I was more concerned about individual titles and all that. Once I got on to that first tee on Friday morning, I thought, ‘oh, this is a little different than I expected’. It doesn’t seem that it’s been that long and now this is going to be ■ my fifth Ryder Cup,” added the Northern Irishman, who last week said that winning majors had provided his proudest moments but Ryder Cups had been his best golfing experiences.
“But they have all been wonderful experiences for different reasons, and I’m sure this time will be no different. I’ve been excited for this for basically since the last day in Hazeltine, whenever we weren’t the ones spraying champagne for a change,” the world No. 6 said.
That contest two years ago featured one of the all-time great singles matches as McIlory took on this year’s US Masters champion Patrick Reed in a high-octane, high-volume Sunday showdown.
Sent out first by their captains, the talismans traded shots and celebrations through a terrific match in front of baying galleries, before Reed eventually triumphed on the final hole.
Both have since spoken about how much they enjoyed that battle but McIlroy said yesterday that having looked back on how high he was on adrenalin, he had learnt an important lesson.