McIlroy: I injured myself chasing Tyrrell Hatton around the putting green!

RORY McILROY got so carried away in Sunday night’s Ryder Cup celebrations that he nearly ended up doing himself a serious injury. ‘I hurt my calf muscle chasing Tyrrell Hatton around the putting green, it’s a good thing I’ve got three weeks off now to get over it,’ said the Northern Irishman as he mustered a smile the morning after the night before. It was a mixed Ryder Cup for the four-time major winner, who was edged out of a singles point on Sunday when he plugged his ball in a bunker on the 18th. Yesterday he revealed that he had apologised to Thorbjorn Olesen for his performance after they lost on Friday in the opening fourballs, and also that he would like to see Padraig Harrington take charge for the 2020 edition at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. McIlroy believes that captaincy is a horses-for-courses situation and that Harrington would be an ideal fit. ‘You need a certain type of captain in the United States and a certain type of captain in Europe, and for me Padraig would be a great captain in the US,’ he said. ‘It’s because of his playing record and because everyone over there likes him. Even though the match (in 2016) didn’t go our way I thought Darren Clarke was a great captain in the US because he has got a connection with the fans over there, just as Padraig does, having won there a few times. ‘The great thing about European sides is the continuity, and the fact that the vice-captains play a role a few years in advance of taking the captaincy so they are prepared for it. There’s probably about five or six guys who could take it next time, maybe Padraig might want to wait a bit and do it closer to home. I will play under anyone.’ McIlroy admitted that his undulating personal form has been a concern, and that he regretted not doing more to help rookie Olesen on the Friday. ‘I haven’t had my best stuff for a while, I’m struggling with my swing a bit and fighting it, I just wanted to come here and contribute on the course and also off it, try to encourage the rookies. ‘I felt horrendous for Thorbjorn because the reason he didn’t play Friday afternoon or Saturday was because of me. I played terrible that first morning. ‘I had a chat with him on Friday and said: “Sorry, you’ll have your chance but let this be motivation for you to go out there and do what you have to do”. And he was one of the best players yesterday.’ McIlroy felt the lie of his ball on Sunday was a metaphor for his whole year. ‘I just laughed when I saw it (plugged), it wasn’t a great tee shot and I expected it to be in the bunker but I thought I would have had a chance. It’s my season in a nutshell. It was really good for a while and then it was like: “Boom!”. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter. It’s a fourth Ryder Cup win in five that I have been in. I’m proud of that.’ He dismissed the notion that winning away has become too difficult in this competition, but acknowledged that the opposition may have been fatigued after the FedEx Cup. ‘If you are a football team away matches are supposed to be difficult, you’re not playing in front of your home crowd, people aren’t cheering for you. ‘I think a big thing this time is there wasn’t that week off between the Tour Championship and this, so 11 of the 12 US players played the Championship, got on a plane Sunday night and then had to go at it again.’