McIlroy turned down prospect of playing Ryder Cup captain

Rory McIlroy revealed that he has already turned down the prospect of becoming a future playing captain for Europe in the Ryder Cup.

McIlroy was already proposed with the role but immediately rejected the idea but Keegan Bradley could become the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 at next month’s contest in Bethpage Black.

“I’ve been asked to do that and I’ve turned it down,” said McIlroy, who was the first player to automatically qualify for Luke Donald’s European team.

“The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon has come up and I’ve shot it down straight away because I don’t think you can do it.

“If you’d have said it 20 years ago I’d say it was probably possible to do, but how big of a spectacle it is and everything that’s on the line in a Ryder Cup now, I just think it would be a very difficult position to be in.

“There’s a lot of things that people don’t see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now that the Ryder Cup has become so big.

“The captain’s only going to be able to play one session on Friday, one session on Saturday. Would you rather not have a player that has the flexibility to go twice if he’s playing well?”

McIlroy won the Masters in April to complete the career grand slam and he will be 38 when the 2027 Ryder Cup arrives in Adare Manor – one year younger than US captain Bradley who faces a dilemma after his form elevated him to 12th in the world and 10th on America’s qualification list ahead of the final qualifying event at the BMW Championship, a tournament he is the defending champion.