Rory McIlroy has his eyes on serving as captain of the European Ryder Cup team, but not until the “mid-2030s” at the earliest.
McIlroy hopes to still be playing when the 2027 Ryder Cup takes place in Ireland, he said Wednesday during a press conference ahead of the DP World India Championship in Delhi.
“I would love to be the European team captain at some point, but that will be beyond my playing days, or at least when my playing days are coming to an end and I’m not good enough to make the team, or I make way for the new generation to come along,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “So, hopefully that’s not 2027, and hopefully I’m still good enough to play and put points on the board for Europe.
“But yeah, absolutely. I would love to be captain one day, and I feel very fortunate that I’ve had a front-row seat at playing under some of the best captains in history in the Ryder Cup.”
McIlroy, who became the sixth golfer to record a career Grand Slam during the 2025 Masters in April, capped off his season by contributing 3 1/2 points to Europe’s Ryder Cup victory in September at Bethpage Black. Team Europe has now won six times in McIlroy’s eight appearances in the tournament.
Luke Donald, who has captained the European team to back-to-back victories in 2023 and 2025, declined to commit after the tournament to a third Ryder Cup captaincy.
When speaking about his own captaincy goals on Wednesday, McIlroy praised Donald for having “revolutionized the captaincy role, especially within Europe.”
“I think the time, and the effort, and the dedication that Luke Donald has put into the last four years, he’s bene absolutely amazing,” McIlroy said. “He has 100 percent respect of the entire team and everyone that’s worked for him and behind him. And if I can be nearly as good as a captain as Luke Donald, I’ll have done a good job.
“So, hopefully one day in the future. I’d say not until the mid-2030s, hopefully, if I can keep playing well.”
The 2027 Ryder Cup is set to take place in County Limerick in Ireland, where Europe will have the chance to match the team’s longest winning streak in tournament history with a third straight victory.
The tournament’s following three locations are also set as the Ryder Cup heads to Chaska, Minnesota in 2029, Caldes de Malavella, Spain in 2031 and San Francisco, California in 2033.
There’s a chance that Europe will be looking to hand the captaincy to McIlroy, who will be about 44 years old by the time, by the time the 2033 tournament comes to the Bay Area.
