When it became a foregone conclusion that the European team had clinched the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy, Rory McIlroy celebrated by galloping down the 18th fairway with teammate Shane Lowry. The burly Irishman’s match was still to be decided, but that didn’t stop him from lifting McIlroy in his arms like a catcher and pitcher after a World Series victory.
The partisan crowd broke into a chorus of “Ole! Ole! Ole!” McIroy joined in, singing, “Champione! Champione! Champione!” Before long, he popped open a bottle of champagne, took a swig and enjoyed victory.
It was the eighth time in the last nine playings of the biennial event that the home team won (and also the sixth European victory in the last nine). During Team Europe’s winning-team press conference, McIlroy was asked if home-field advantage has become too big of a deal in the Ryder Cup. His answer set the stage for McIlroy’s latest pursuit.
“So I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup. And that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.”
Then he pounded the table with his fist, his teammates cheered and McIlroy smiled the smile of victory.
Since that joyous moment in Rome two years ago, McIlroy has seen it all: Heartbreak in 2024, most notably when he bogeyed three of the final four holes to blow the lead at the U.S. Open; and jubilation when he won this year’s Masters in a sudden-death playoff l, ending an 11-year drought without a major and becoming the sixth golfer to complete the men’s career Grand Slam.
Timothy Gay, author of an unauthorized biography of McIlroy titled Rory Land, called his subject’s soap opera at the Masters “a nearly two-decade-long melodrama full of passion, intrigue, remorse, and more than occasional self-flagellation.”
Not surprisingly, McIlroy experienced a post-Masters hangover at the next two majors before enjoying a homecoming of sorts in his native Northern Ireland at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, where he finished T-7. Now, his singular focus has shifted to the Ryder Cup, something the 20-year-old McIlroy never could have imagined: In 2009, he went public with his indifference toward the Cup before he had ever played a match.
“It’s not that important an event for me,” he wrote. “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 and fist-pumping.”
It didn’t take long for McIlroy to eat those words and later admit his naivete. He’s been playing in Ryder Cups since 2010 at Celtic Manor in Wales, where he secured a crucial half-point in a singles match with Stewart Cink. He overcame the near-humiliation of almost missing his tee time at the 2012 Ryder Cup, which became known as the “Miracle at Medinah,” when he confused time zones. And there was his mano-a-mano duel with Patrick Reed in 2016 at Hazeltine, where he strutted across the green tugging his right ear and taunting the crowd as if to say, “I can’t hear you,” after pouring in a long-range bomb.
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The last time the matches were held in the U.S., four years ago at Whistling Straits, McIlroy broke down in tears on Saturday after losing his third straight match and was benched for the afternoon session. There was no longer any doubt about how much he cared for the event. So what hurt the most about the team’s defeat in Wisconsin?
“The score line, 19-9. That hurt. It really did,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I gave my best performance, and I didn’t feel like I did my part for the team. And, you know, there was a few of us up here that were on that team that wanted to come back (to Rome in 2023), and everyone at the start of the week was talking about, ‘Oh, do you want to get revenge, do you want to get revenge on the U.S. Team,’ and this wasn’t about revenge. This was about redemption and showing what we could do.”
“The Ryder Cup has come to mean perhaps too much to McIlroy,” wrote Gay.
McIlroy has evolved into a Ryder Cup warrior in the mold of European stalwarts Seve Ballesteros and Ian Poulter. His passion for the competition was on full display after losing a Saturday afternoon four-ball match in Rome. McIlroy was as mad as he’s ever been coming off the golf course after American Patrick Cantlay drained a 43-foot birdie putt on 18 to flip the match and his caddie, Joe LaCava, pranced around the green waving his hat and interrupting McIlroy’s preparation to attempt a putt to tie the match. The anger spilled out into the car park, where he had to be restrained by Lowry, who forced him into a car headed to the team hotel.
Video of the incident went viral on social media. McIlroy said Lowry made sure he cooled off back at the hotel, literally: He took him to the cold plunge.
Maybe the person who may deserve the most credit for turning McIlroy’s frown upside down has been dead for centuries. “Avoid the big reaction” is one of the tenets of one of McIlroy’s favorite authors, Ryan Holiday, who espouses the Stoic philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. McIlroy had broken that cardinal rule. On the way to the course for Sunday’s singles matches, he reread some of the meditations of Aurelius.
“Seeing that we are in Rome, I thought it would be a good time to revisit some of his thoughts,” McIlroy said. “Humility and gentleness are better virtues than being frustrated and angry. I had to let it out, but then I had to reset.
“I didn’t let it take away from what’s been a fantastic week,” he added. “I used that little incident last night to my advantage. I think what transpired on that last green, it all gave us a little bit of a fire in our bellies to try and get the job done.”
McIlroy did his part, defeating Sam Burns 3 and 1 to cap off a record of 4-1-0, the most points scored by any player for the week and his best showing in seven Ryder Cups.
ROME, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 26: Rory McIlroy of Team Europe smiles after chipping in on the eighth hole during a practice round prior to the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on September 26, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
The 2023 Ryder Cup was supposed to be the year the American side won on European soil for the first time in 30 years. But what was supposed to be a transition year for the Euros—who were going through a youth movement led by the 23-year-old hotshot Ludvig Åberg and 22-year-old Nicolai Højgaard—proved they were more than capable of holding serve at home. But it also showed once more how hard it is to win on the road, where partisan crowd support boosts home-team morale and can play a significant role in the outcome.
McIlroy comes to Bethpage with renewed enthusiasm and belief that the European side can mount a strong team effort and win on U.S. soil for the first time since 2012. And, in a sense, he’s playing with house money, having already forged an unforgettable season, winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at one of the cathedrals of golf, the Players Championship in a Monday playoff and, of course, his Masters moment. It will be hard for 2025 to get much sweeter, but winning a road Ryder Cup would be the proverbial icing on the cake. And, at age 36, McIlroy realizes that he will get only so many more chances. “This is my seventh Ryder Cup. Am I going to play in another seven? I don’t know,” he mused. “I’m probably on the back nine of my Ryder Cup career, and every one that I get to play in from now on is very, very meaningful.”
