Rory McIlroy has said it will be at least a decade until he is ready to lead the European Ryder Cup team.
As the star turn at the DP World India Championship, which also has Bethpage team-mates Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland and Shane Lowry in the field, McIlroy is being feted at every turn at Delhi Golf Club this week for his first tournament in the country. And while his pursuit of a seventh Race to Dubai title is in his thoughts, last month’s events in New York are still being raked over.
“Yeah, absolutely, I would love to be captain one day. Hopefully, that’s not 2027,” McIlroy, 36, who has previously ruled out being a player-captain, said. “I feel very fortunate that I’ve had a front-row seat playing under some of the best captains in history. Paul McGinley, at Gleneagles in 2014, was a wonderful captain and I learned a lot from him [but] I think what Luke Donald has done in the last two Ryder Cups has revolutionised the captaincy within Europe.
McIlroy, second right, next to Donald after fending off the American fightback last month
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“The time and effort and dedication that Luke has put into the last four years has been absolutely amazing. He has the 100 per cent respect of the entire team.
“If I can be nearly as good a captain as Luke I’ll have done a good job. So hopefully one day in the future, but I’d say not until the mid-2030s if I can keep playing well.”
Donald is still to decide whether he wants to retain the captaincy for a third term, at Adare Manor in 2027, but with Justin Rose saying he wants to be there as a player and a string of names lost to the LIV Golf impasse, Europe is not brimming over with options.
McIlroy enjoyed an emotional week in New York as he helped Europe retain the Ryder Cup last month
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McIlroy declined to be drawn into the fall-out from Bethpage, exacerbated by the PGA of America president making an utter hash of what should have been a simple apology for the crowd abuse directed at the Northern Irishman and others. Instead, the world No2 said he had enjoyed watching the highlights and marvelling at Europe’s collective display in their 15-13 triumph.
“The Americans would hit it close, and we hit it closer. The Americans hole a putt, and we hole a putt on top of it — it happened every single time,” he said, “The unfortunate thing is people aren’t remembering that. They are remembering the week for the wrong reason. 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.”
And while every sport craves a new audience, McIlroy warned that golf needs to stick to its strengths. “Golf doesn’t need to be the NFL,” he added. “Golf is fine. You don’t want your sport to be unwelcoming to newcomers, I absolutely get that, but you also don’t want newcomers coming into the game and ruining centuries of traditions and values.”
The presence of McIlroy in India is more evidence of his long-stated ambition to be a more global player. There is $4million up for grabs, in a good field which also includes the 2023 Open champion, Brian Harman, and the US Ryder Cup player Ben Griffin.
“I had a chat with Roger Federer a few years ago at the end of his career, and he was saying he wanted to go and play a lot of the places he could never play in his career,” McIlroy said. “Eighteen-odd years into a professional career and to still be able to do things for the first time is something that excites me.”