Rory McIlroy has opened up on the ever-changing landscape of golf by explaining how he and his Ryder Cup teammates keep in touch and have kept in touch over the years
08:29 ET, 23 Aug 2025Updated 08:35 ET, 23 Aug 2025
Rory McIlroy opened up on the new ‘core group’ of Ryder Cup stars(Image: 2024 TGL)
Rory McIlroy will tee it up for Luke Donald’s European team at the Ryder Cup next month, but the Northern Irishman opened up on the fast-changing nature of golf by admitting he doesn’t have some of his old teammates’ numbers.
McIlroy is set for his eighth Ryder Cup when he heads to New York to take on the Americans at Bethpage Black, having initially represented the continent in 2010 at Celtic Manor.
His captain on that occasion was Welsh golf legend Colin Montgomerie, who has his own course he designed at Celtic Manor named in his honor. Montgomerie oversaw a dramatic win for Team Europe, winning 14.5 to 13.5.
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McIlroy and Montgomerie have crossed paths on a number of occasions since then, but due to the ever-changing landscape of golf, Masters champion McIlroy admitted he doesn’t have the Welshman’s number anymore – as he discussed the ‘new generation’ of Europeans.
Speaking at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia, McIlroy opened up on his role in previous teams compared to this year’s.
Asked whether there were any numbers in the Team Europe group chat from 2010 he didn’t recognize, he responded: “Yeah, geez, there’s — I don’t know if people have changed their numbers since then.
Colin Montgomerie was Rory McIlroy’s captain at Celtic Manor in 2010
“I would hope that they have. I’ve certainly changed mine a few times.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously Monty was our captain back then. Pretty sure I don’t have Colin Montgomerie’s number right now. It’s changed a lot.
“I played on Ryder Cup teams with all those guys that were sort of the core of that European team for a decade or more, and that’s who I started with.
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“Now we’ve sort of created our own core group, and it’s the next generation, and that’s a cool thing.
“There’s a few guys there that I probably don’t have their number anymore or they don’t have mine.”
McIlroy has already qualified automatically for this year’s tournament, but his friend Shane Lowry is facing a nervous wait to discover if he’ll have to be a captain’s pick or not.
The Irishman won’t earn any qualification points at this weekend’s Tour Championship, and could lose his automatic spot to Rasmus Hojgaard.
Should Hojgaard finish in a two-way tie for 29th or better at the British Masters this weekend, he’ll snatch the qualification spot from Lowry, forcing him to be a captain’s pick.