“I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup and that’s what we are going to do at Bethpage.”
Rory McIlroy blurted out that bold statement two years ago at the Team Europe winning Ryder Cup press conference in Rome and in doing so it gave an insight into his own mental psyche.
McIlroy is not a Tiger Woods figure, he might not even be a Scottie Scheffler type. He isn’t relentless. But if 2025 has taught us anything new about him it’s that he is a goal setter and when he achieves those goals there is a lull.
Irish golf has been blessed with some glorious summers. In 2008, Pádraig Harrington won the Open and PGA Championship, in 2014, McIlroy repeated the feat. But to be part of a winning Ryder Cup team, given the dominance of the host sides in the biennial contest, would surely cap off the greatest year an Irish golfer or even an Irish sportsman has ever had.
Before McIlroy had won the Masters he lifted titles at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and at the Players Championship. Winning the Grand Slam in April already means that he has had an all timer of a year.
It’s also understandable why he had a lull and hasn’t really clicked fully back into gear since. Even at the Irish Open he won with his B game while 22 birdies, two eagles, three double bogeys and eight bogeys at Wentworth is probably representative of his erratic play since completing the career grand slam, it’s also terrific matchplay golf.
Since April, McIlroy’s next mission has been to win the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. In fact, the entire European team have been hyping up this week’s clash since the beginning of the year.
For Shane Lowry, it will define whether he has had a good season or a bad one, for others it would be a career highlight, for Luke Donald it would cement him as Europe’s greatest ever Ryder Cup captain. There’s lots on the line legacy wise this week.
There’s also personal pride on the line for McIlroy. The 2021 Ryder Cup marked a turning point in his career. Since winning just one of his four Ryder Cup matches in Whistling Straits four years ago, McIlroy has contended to win regularly in major championships, won the grand slam, won three successive Race to Dubai titles and a FedEx Cup.
He was part of the last European team to win on away soil so winning the Ryder Cup in New York on Sunday wouldn’t just be the icing on the cake of a historic year, it would only cement his legacy as the greatest European golfer.
McIlroy is seen as the leader of this European side, he played all five sessions in Rome and will likely do so again this week with Donald expected to lean on an axis of McIlroy, Rahm, Hatton and Hovland again.
Given that Europe haven’t won on away soil since 2012 and have been comprehensively beaten on their previous two visits to the United States, including a record-breaking loss in 2021, and USA haven’t won away since 1993, it’s about time someone broke the chain.
The Ryder Cup needs an away win to stop the overriding tide of home advantage otherwise Harrington’s suggestion of neutralising venues will need to be considered.
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