Rory McIlroy is eyeing a potential Ryder Cup captaincy, but not anytime soon.
McIlroy, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday ahead of playing in the DP World India Championship, praised former European captains who stood out to him during his time playing. However, he dismissed any narrative that his captaincy would come in the next two years, hoping he would still be playing.
“Absolutely, I would love to be a captain one day and I feel very fortunate that I’ve had a front-row seat playing under some of the best captains in history in the Ryder Cup,” McIlroy said, name-checking Paul McGinley — the winning 2014 skipper — and Luke Donald, who led Europe in the last two matches.
“But I’d say not until the mid-2030s, hopefully, if I can keep playing well.”
McIlroy, 36, is playing this week for the first time since helping Europe hold off the United States 15-13 last month to retain the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. McIlroy’s comment comes two months after a dilemma arose over the United States’ Keegan Bradley possibly choosing himself to play during his captaincy. Bradley didn’t, but he and McIlroy engaged in a bit of a war of words over whether or not it was even possible.
McIlroy is pondering the captaincy for when his career is winding down, when the five-time major champion and newest member of the career Grand Slam club is no longer able to play at that level.
“Certainly not 2027, I hope I’m still playing at that point. But I would love to be the European team captain at some point,” McIlroy told reporters. “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. Hopefully, that’s not in 2027.”
Members of the European team have been outspoken in encouraging Donald to return as the European captain for 2027 at Ireland’s Ardare Manor. He would be the first three-time captain since Tony Jacklin held the role for four straight Cup cycles in the 1980s. Donald has time to make a decision — traditionally, captains are not announced until the first half of the year following the Ryder Cup.
McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland, has played in the last eight Ryder Cups and is the world No. 2 and current Masters champion. He endured a plethora of abuse from American fans throughout the week while playing in this year’s Ryder Cup. Ahead of his outing in India, McIlroy reminisced on Europe’s keen play throughout last month’s Cup, but fears people will remember the week for the wrong reasons.
“The unfortunate thing is people aren’t remembering that and they are remembering the week for the wrong reason,” McIlroy said. “I would like to shift the narrative and focus on how good the European team were and how proud I was to be part of that team to win an away Ryder Cup.”
