European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald is fresh off a triumph at Bethpage Black in New York and understands more than just the reality that Rory McIlroy “loves the Ryder Cup.”
Donald and his squad delivered an outstanding performance during the opening four sessions at the Ryder Cup, fending off a U.S. rally on Sunday that came up just short as Europe claimed the trophy, 15-13, for consecutive titles. Speaking at the DP World India Championship, Donald was questioned about his views on what McIlroy might bring as a potential future captain.
“Well, just the fact that he loves the Ryder Cup more than anything. He made it quite evident that winning an away Ryder Cup would really be the icing on an amazing year that he had this year,” Donald said.
“Yeah, he loves what it represents. You’ve seen the emotion from losing to winning. Anyone that has that passion for a Ryder Cup I think would make a good captain,” said Donald.
McIlroy’s devotion to Europe and the biennial competition was on full display in New York. He faced constant heckling from spectators and fired back at them, initially with words and later by jetting back across the Atlantic with the silverware.
During a pre-tournament media session in August, Rory revealed he’s already ‘declined’ future chances to serve as captain.
“No, I’ve been asked to do that, and I’ve turned it down … The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon has come up, and I’ve shot it down straight away,” McIlroy said about his aspirations to be a playing captain one day.
But why?
“Because I don’t think you can do it,” McIlroy stated.
“I just think the commitments that a captain has the week of – you think about the extra media that a captain has to do, you think about the extra meetings that the captains have to do with the vice captains, with the PGA of America, in Keegan’s case, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony.
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“Just there’s a lot of things that people don’t see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now that the Ryder Cup has become so big.
“If you’d have said it 20 years ago, I’d say, yeah, it was probably possible to do, but how big of a spectacle and everything that’s on the line in a Ryder Cup now, I just think it would be a very difficult position to be in. So I just think for those reasons.
“Then the captain isn’t going to be on the course all day, so really the captain’s only going to be able to play one session on Friday, one session on Saturday. Would you rather not have a player that has the flexibility to go twice if he’s playing well? There’s a lot of different things that go into it, and that’s why I think – look, it’s just my opinion, but I think it would just be very difficult to do.”
