Rory McIlroy is the bookmaker’s pre-tournament favourite at this week’s BMW PGA Championship – now a home venue for the Holywood-born five-time major winner who has taken up residence at the venue on London’s southwestern suburbs – but the Ryder Cup in a fortnight’s time continues to be his primary focus.
Two years after a memorable victory in Rome, the joke is that Europe will have the same 12 faces competing again at Bethpage, with Rasmus Højgaard taking the place of his identical twin brother Nicolai, but Rasmus was present throughout the week at Marco Simone so it’s not going to be an entirely new experience, even if his task this time will be carried out with clubs in hand rather than with moral support.
“I think the good thing about Rasmus is he really was a part of our team last time in Rome,” McIlroy said. “Obviously his brother played but Rasmus was a part of the backroom team, so he was around the team for the entire week.
“Obviously it will be his first time playing but he’s at least got experience in terms of what the week is like, what the cadence of the week is like. Obviously in a way, Ryder Cup is a little bit different, as well.
“But Rasmus has been around for quite a while now even though he’s still very young. I think at this point, he’s very comfortable with all of us. I’ve obviously made it known to you guys and to them, as well. I think they are very talented brothers and I think they have a lot of potential in the game. You know, but he doesn’t need me to tell him that. He knows his potential and how good he is. He qualified for the Ryder Cup Team which is a hard thing to do.”
And McIlroy feels that each of the 12 Europeans will play their part if they’re to pull off what he’s regularly described as being one of golf’s biggest achievements and win a Ryder Cup on enemy turf.
And that means treating each of the dozen as equals.
“In terms of making him feel comfortable, we all walk into that team room as he equals and we walk out of that team room as equals,” he said. “He needs to see himself on the same level as Jon Rahm, myself or anyone else. We are just one of 12. We are just one of 12, and when we walk in there, we hopefully will make the collective group stronger, and I think Rasmus probably got a sense of that from Rome last time.”
With 11 of the 12 players returning, it marks the smallest turnover in Ryder Cup history. Previously, nine players had returned in European blue on several occasions, and McIlroy feels that there is a strong case to be made that the team is stronger two years on.
“Absolutely, but I think, as I said, we all knew these guys had a lot of potential,” he said when asked about the growth of players like Rasmus Højgaard and Bob MacIntyre who was a rookie last time out but is now a two-time PGA Tour winner. “But they have gone out and they have earned it.
“Bob has turned himself into one of the best players in the world, a really gritty competitor. It was Nicolai last time in Rome and Rasmus this time in New York, and probably we weren’t even talking about Ludvig [Åberg] at that time because he was still in college.
“Yeah, it’s great to see. I think I said this week, but you could make an argument that the 12 guys that we have going to New York are more accomplished golfers than they were two years ago when most of us were in Rome. But it is. It’s amazing that those guys have stepped up and filled those spots that have been vacated by some of the older guard that have moved on at this point.
“Yeah, I will be one of those older guard that’s going to be moving on here in the next decade or so, and I’m sure there’s going to be great European talent coming to take my spot as well.”
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