[Photo: Orlando Ramirez]
Rory McIlroy is gearing up for the defence of his titles at next week’s Players Championship and the Masters in early April, and the good news for the Northern Irishman is that he feels his game is in good shape coming out of America’s West Coast.
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“I’m really happy with the signs that I saw at Pebble Beach and Riviera,” he said on Wednesday at Bay Hill Club on the eve of the $US20 million Arnold Palmer Invitational, the third signature event of the PGA Tour season.
OK, great. But enough about the golf game of the world’s No.2 player. His competitive prospects are of interest, but during his pre-tournament press conference, the state of his game quickly took a back seat to more pressing issues, namely an event that is 18 months away.
Ryder Cup news has been the hot topic this week, and McIlroy, the firebrand of the European team, was asked to weigh in on both the good and potentially bad related to the team that has won the past two editions in Rome and New York.
On the positive side of the ledger is the return of Luke Donald as the European captain for a third time. The Englishman will make history if he leads Europe to a third straight victory when the Ryder Cup is contested at Adare Manor in Ireland September 17-19, 2027.
McIlroy couldn’t be happier.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. I think it’s obviously a huge advantage for the European team to have that continuity and that consistency,” said McIlroy, 36, who is close friends with Donald. “I was sort of banging on that drum going into Bethpage. And we’ll have it even more so again… The team may be a little bit different, or it could be obviously really similar to Bethpage to what it was in Rome. I maybe envision a couple other guys maybe breaking their way on to the team.
“But it’s wonderful to have Luke back,” he added. “There’s not one player or one person behind the scenes that helps with Ryder Cup Europe that isn’t thrilled that Luke agreed to come back and do it again.”
Tempering his enthusiasm is his aforementioned reference to the team roster. It could indeed be a little different, or significantly different with the possible absence of Jon Rahm. The Spaniard has taken a mystifying position in regard to his membership on the DP World Tour, which is mandatory to qualify for the European Ryder Cup team.
McIlroy finds it difficult to digest the fact that Rahm has refused a deal in which he must play in an additional two DP World Tour events – six in all not counting the major championships – to retain his membership while also competing on the LIV Golf League. Eight other LIV members have accepted the terms, but Rahm is holding out, even after the tour waved fines that LIV golfers were expected to pay.
Rory McIlroy talked for more than 3 minutes about Jon Rahm, the DP World Tour penalties and the Ryder Cup.
“In my opinion, it’s a really generous deal. Like it’s a much softer deal than what Brooks took to come back and play on the PGA Tour.
“Obviously Jon doesn’t think so,… pic.twitter.com/Mt68elyUQe
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan) March 4, 2026
“Geez, in my opinion, it’s a really generous deal,” McIlroy said with bewilderment in his voice. “It’s a much softer deal than what Brooks [Koepka] took to come back and play on the PGA Tour. Look, the European tour can only do so much to accommodate these guys. If you want to play on the Ryder Cup you have to be a member of the DP World Tour, you have you have to abide by the rules and regulations. And the rules and regulations were, ‘OK, if you break the media rights agreement and you go and play in a conflicting event, you don’t get a release, you’re subject to fines.’ So the guys didn’t want to pay these fines, that’s fine.
“So then the European tour said, ‘OK, let’s try to come up with some sort of solution where you don’t have to pay the fines, so that we can ease that burden on you, but still retain your membership.’ There’s a reason eight of the nine guys took that deal. I think it’s a really good deal. Obviously, Jon doesn’t think so, and he’s obviously well within his rights to think that way. But I just don’t see what more the European tour can do to accommodate these guys.”
The upshot to Rahm’s recalcitrance is that he would not be able to contribute to Europe’s prospects in Ireland after going 3-2 at Bethpage Black last September and 2-0-2 at Marco Simone in Rome in 2023. His overall record in three appearances is 8-3-3.
All credit to McIlroy for assessing the larger picture. Rahm would be missed. But that’s beside the point.
“Look, the Ryder Cup is bigger than any one person. It’s bigger than all of us,” McIlroy said. “We come and go. We pass through the system. It’s the platform that’s the big thing. I think we should all be grateful that we have a platform like the Ryder Cup that we can play on and that we can showcase our skills and be a part of something that’s obviously way bigger than ourselves. So at the end of the day, it’s about the team and no one player is bigger than the team.”
Words to remember in September 2027.