Rory McIlroy’s season shows no sign of slowing down. After a packed PGA Tour schedule, he is in England preparing for the BMW PGA Championship just days after winning the Irish Open.
However, while the DP World Tour’s flagship event is one of the standout tournaments of the year, it falls just two weeks before McIlroy tees it up for Team Europe in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Therefore, it is no surprise that the biennial match is firmly in his mind even as he prepares for the Wentworth tournament.
Two years ago at Marco Simone in Italy, the Europeans cruised to a 16.5-11.5 victory, but McIlroy is in no doubt about the task facing the team against the Americans on US soil.
He said: “History would tell you it's very difficult. There's a reason that in the last decade, each Ryder Cup has went to the home team.
“Yeah, look, it would obviously be great to bring the Ryder Cup back to these shores, and, look, we know how difficult it's going to be. We are under no illusion. I have complete confidence and Luke and his vice captains and the team that they have put together.”
The last time the Europeans won in the US was in 2012 at Medinah, where McIlroy secured three points. However, since then, he has experienced defeat away from home at Hazeltine in 2016 and Whistling Straits in 2021.
Despite recent history being against Luke Donald’s side, he believes there is a big opportunity to do something special.
He added: “I keep saying this: we have a massive opportunity to do something that not a lot of Ryder Cup teams say that they have done.
"We have got a lot of people within that team, whether they are myself and Justin Rose that are playing, but then obviously you've got Francesco and Luke on the vice captain side that were there that played. So we have experience in knowing what it takes."
“But I think we all know it's going to be very, very difficult, and you're not just playing 12 American golfers. You're also trying to get past the crowd, and that's the same thing that they feel when we come here and play in Europe."
Regardless of what happens in the Ryder Cup, McIlroy’s legacy is secure, having completed his career Grand Slam at The Masters in April.
So far this year alone, he has four victories, including his 20th on the DP World Tour last week, and that success has come with one man alongside him, caddie Harry Diamond.
McIlroy revealed what it means to share his achievements with his friend, explaining: “Look, I don't think I need any extra motivation to try to win Major championships, but I think doing it with him definitely adds something more and is very special.
“Look, we've done a lot in the game together. We've won Ryder Cups. We've won FedEx Cups. We've won Ryder Cups. We've won Players Championships. We've won the Masters.
“We've done a lot in the game. It's not like I'm trying to give him new experiences but at the same time last week winning with him on the bag or winning the Masters, that - you have to ask him, but it certainly means a lot to me that my oldest friend and the guy that I can talk to about anything is there beside me when I'm doing these things.”
Given his achievements, it can be easy to forget just how much runway the 36-year-old still has in his career, although he admitted that he is closer to the point where he begins to wind things down than the start.
“I don't want to be grounding out here at 50 years of age,” he said. “I'll turn up and play the Majors and have a nice time but you know, whenever I'm done, I'm done, whenever that is.
“That's certainly not right now, but I'm certainly closer to that point now than I was in 2007 when I turned pro.
“Again, at this point I want to play golf when I want to play golf. I want to play in the locations that I love to go to, and I want to play the Majors and the Ryder Cup. That's it.
“I'm not going to be going by minimums or anything else. Like I'll obviously do my bit to make sure I keep my membership and all that on certain tours, but I'm going to play where I want to play.”
