Rory McIlroy has fond memories of the K Club, site of this week’s Irish Open on the DP World Tour.
It’s where he watched the final day of the 2006 Ryder Cup with his dad as a 17-year-old aspiring professional golfer. It’s also the site of his lone Irish Open title, which he won in 2016.
“It’s got a lot of great memories for me, and hopefully I can add to them this week,” he said on Wednesday during his pre-tournament press conference.
McIlroy said he spent part of last week in the west of Ireland, and it did not stop raining for 72 hours, so he has acclimated to being back on the Emerald Isle. The Northern Irishman surely wouldn’t be opposed to adding another Irish Open trophy to his collection of baubles, but this week and next week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in England are more about getting in the right mindset for the Ryder Cup later this month at Bethpage Black.
“I figured out my ball striking at least in Atlanta. I felt like I hit the ball terribly at the BMW but I putted well. Then in Atlanta, I hit the ball better but I putted terribly. So just need to try to piece everything together,” he said. “These are two big weeks, yeah, to make sure the game is sharp, but I think the only way to tell you’re as sharp as you want to be is getting yourself in contention under pressure and the sort of business end of things on Sunday. I think it’s important to do that. It’s important to give myself a couple of chances to win.”
McIlroy wasn’t shy about saying his eye is on the bigger prize – the golden chalice that Team Europe won in Rome in 2023. He’d give almost anything to be clutching the trophy again and for Europe to retain it with the first road victory in the biennial competition since 2012. This will be McIlroy’s eighth Ryder Cup, which makes him easily the most experienced player on either team.
“Since The Open passed, it’s the one thing I’ve really been looking towards and making sure my game is in the best possible shape. I think we have a wonderful opportunity to do something – honestly, one of the greatest achievements in the game right now is to win an away Ryder Cup, and I think this European team has a great opportunity to do that,” McIlroy said. “We’re all very excited. We know it’s going to be a tough task. There’s a reason why every Ryder Cup for the last 10 years has went to the home team. So we know it’s going to be very tough, but I honestly think we have 12 guys and the captain and the vices and everyone else involved, we’ve got all the ingredients. We just need to put them in the oven, and hopefully it all works out for us.”
McIlroy has played on three Ryder Cups on U.S. soil dating to 2012 and “the Miracle at Medinah,” so, he knows all about the challenges of playing in a hostile environment.
“Make no mistake, we know we’re up against it and we know we’ve got a tall task on our hands,” he said. “All we can do is control our response and our reaction to it.”
McIlroy said he had watched some of Serbian tennis great Novak Djokovic’s straight-set victory over Taylor Fritz of the U.S. on Tuesday night at the U.S. Open in New York in front of a boisterous, pro-American crowd. Djokovic spoke to the European Ryder Cup team ahead of the matches in Rome in 2023 and shared some of his techniques for dealing with large crowds rooting for the opposition.
“He’s had to deal with it his whole life, whether it’s playing against an American in New York or playing against Roger (Federer) or Rafa (Nadal),” McIlroy said. “Maybe taking a leaf out of his book and channeling that energy the right way, but again, all we can do is control our reaction and our emotions to it. I think the less we play into it, the better it is for us.”
Speaking of tennis, McIlroy was asked for his reaction to Sergio Garcia’s withdrawal from the Irish Open after he didn’t make the European Ryder Cup team as a captain’s pick. The Spaniard, who plays primarily on LIV Golf, instead attended the U.S. Open tennis match of countryman Carlos Alcaraz, and was scheduled to play golf with him on Wednesday.
“It would have been great for the tournament if Sergio played, but obviously, he was trying to keep himself sharp, I guess, if he did get a pick. Look, he has the right to enter and pull out of whatever tournaments he wants to,” McIlroy said. “As I said, Luke has assembled a very strong 12 players, and I think it’s the right 12 players. I’m sure (Sergio)’s disappointed, but at the same time, I’m sure he wishes Europe well.”
And if all goes well for McIlroy and Team Europe, it would cap off a fairytale year for the reigning Masters champion.
“If I did have a better year in the game, I’d love to see it,” he said. “But if we were to win an away Ryder Cup with everything else that I’ve been through this year, 2025 would be the best year of my career.”
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