The European Team Leader Has Evolved Into Embracing the Ryder Cup

Rory McIlroy once dismissed the Ryder Cup as an exhibition, but on the eve of his eighth appearance he revealed the moment he realized the importance of this competition.

Rory McIlroy is the European team's top-ranked player and unquestioned leader. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Rory McIlroy’s Ryder Cup tenure has now spanned a couple of generations. His passion for the event is obvious.

But it was not always that way.

McIlroy infamously referred to the event as an exhibition before he played in his first one and somewhat naively wondered what all the fuss was about. That was back in 2009, when he was barely 20 years old. And he’s admitted many times he missed the mark.

On the eve of his eighth Ryder Cup, the 36-year-old is the unquestioned leader of the European team. His overall record is 16–13–4 and he’s played on five winning teams, including the last road win for the Europeans in 2012.

His first Ryder Cup was in 2010 at Celtic Manor in Wales, where a weather-plagued event had to finish on Monday and Europe prevailed with a dramatic 14½ to 13½ victory.

McIlroy went 1–1–2 in that Ryder Cup, halving his Monday singles match with Stewart Cink.

The Moment When It Clicked for McIlroy

But it was in the days leading up to the event that the importance of the event clicked.

“I think it’s more the behind-the-scenes stuff: The team room, the team talks,” McIlroy said Thursday at Bethpage Black, where the Ryder Cup begins Friday morning. “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.”

Rory McIlroy's first Ryder Cup was in Wales in 2010. / Montana Pritchard/Getty Images

At the time, European legend Seve Ballesteros was suffering with brain cancer. He would die a year later. But his mark on the Ryder Cup remains strong, especially for the Spanish players.

Then-captain Colin Montgomerie arranged for Ballesteros to speak to the team.

“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 recalled. “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.”

How the European Team Is Leaning Into Its History This Week

The European team has clearly leaned into its history this week, especially as it relates to winning in the United States. That has happened just four times in Ryder Cup history—1987, 1995, 2004 and 2012—and the team has worn colors from those years’ attire during practice. On Thursday, European team players were wearing the same shirt that was worn on the Saturday of the comeback at Medinah in 2012.

Rory McIlroy took time for the fans during practice rounds this week. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

“I’ve been, again, so fortunate to have a long career and to play in a lot of these things and to play against players from all sorts of different generations,” he said. “My first singles match was against Stewart Cink in 2010. I played Sam Burns last time, and I don’t know what the age gap is there, but it’s at least 30 years, I would say, maybe 25, 30 years.

“It’s cool to have a long career and to span those generations. Even at breakfast, talking to José Maria [Olazabal, the 2012 captain and long-time Ballesteros partner] about Celtic Manor in ’10 and lying around the locker room for two days because we couldn’t get out on the golf course because it was so wet. Just little things like that that you can still share and you can reminisce a little bit, which is cool.”