{"id":199997,"date":"2025-10-14T18:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/199997\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T18:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:33:09","slug":"rory-mcilroy-awkwardly-paired-with-team-usa-ryder-cup-rival-for-inaugural-event-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/199997\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy awkwardly paired with Team USA Ryder Cup rival for inaugural event in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy will be reunited with Ryder Cup rival Ben Griffin at the inaugural DP World India Championship.<\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman<\/a> is making his return to action for the first time since Team Europe’s victory in New York<\/a>, when he headlines a strong field for the new event at the Delhi Golf Club.<\/p>\n

\"McIlroy<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

McIlroy will be in action in India this week for the first time in his careerCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

This is the penultimate tournament on the DP World Tour<\/a>‘s ‘Back 9’, as players battle it out to qualify for the end-of-season playoffs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.<\/p>\n

McIlroy is the pick of the bunch in a stellar line-up in India, as he looks to pick up where he left off in Europe’s Ryder Cup<\/a> win.<\/p>\n

Luke Donald<\/a>‘s team survived a final day comeback attempt from the Americans to retain their crown with a dramatic 15-13 victory.<\/p>\n

Key to this was McIlroy, who contributed 3.5 points in the successful title defence – the first away win for either team since 2012.<\/p>\n

Who is playing at the DP World India Championship?<\/p>\n

The world No.2 is joined in New Delhi by three of his Ryder Cup teammates – Tommy Fleetwood<\/a>, Shane Lowry<\/a> and Viktor Hovland<\/a>, and victorious captain Donald. <\/p>\n

Unseen moment Rory McIlroy gets fan thrown out for using homophobic slur<\/p>\n

But there is a far more tasty reunion on the cards, with McIlroy and Hovland being paired with US counterpart Griffin.<\/p>\n

The trio will play alongside each other for the opening two rounds in India, and get their tournament up and running<\/a> at 3:55am UK time on Thursday.<\/p>\n

This is sure to make for an interesting encounter, with the European teammates set to spend plenty of time with Griffin, just over two weeks after a heated affair at Bethpage Black.<\/p>\n

The 2025\u00a0Ryder Cup<\/a>\u00a0was a particularly feisty edition, with a hostile US crowd directing constant abuse at Europe’s players and their families.<\/p>\n

Both McIlroy and Hovland were able to overcome this, although the latter was forced to withdraw from the Sunday singles matches<\/a> with a neck injury, but still earned 1.5 points for his team.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Ben Griffin will be looking for revenge over McIlroy and Hovland in New DelhiCredit: Getty\"Viktor<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Viktor Hovland is making his first appearance since withdrawing from the Ryder Cup singles with a neck injuryCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

As for Griffin, the 45th Ryder Cup was also his first, as he made his debut in the prestigious golf tournament.<\/p>\n

It marked an incredible journey for the 29-year-old, who just four years ago was working as a mortgage loan officer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Griffin won a point for Team USA in New York, winning his singles match against Rasmus Hojgaard on the Sunday.<\/p>\n

And he will be keen to build on his breakout year on the PGA Tour with a strong performance at the DP World India Championship, which has plenty of financial incentive.<\/p>\n

What is the prize money on offer at the DP World India Championship?<\/p>\n

The event boasts a total purse of $4million (\u00a33m), with the winner taking home a cool $680k (\u00a3510k).<\/p>\n

As far McIlroy, his participation means he is the first reigning Masters champion to feature at a tournament on Indian soil.<\/p>\n

\"Several<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Several members of Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning team will return to action at the DP World India Championship.Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Speaking earlier in the year, McIlroy expressed his excitement both to compete in India for the first time, and to visit a country he’d ‘always wanted to explore.’<\/p>\n

McIlroy said: “I’m proud to play in the inaugural DP World India Championship.<\/p>\n

“I’ve always enjoyed playing a global schedule and as I have previously said, there is tremendous potential to grow golf further in the country.<\/p>\n

“This is a great opportunity, and I can’t wait to play in front of Indian golf fans.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy will be reunited with Ryder Cup rival Ben Griffin at the inaugural DP World India Championship.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[48870,86336,5904,2623,6547,101,10823,10822,56,54,55,14693],"class_list":{"0":"post-199997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ben-griffin","9":"tag-dp-world-india-championship","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-rory-mcilroy","12":"tag-ryder-cup","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-team-europe","15":"tag-team-usa","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom","19":"tag-viktor-hovland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}