Rory McIlroy visited recently “Stay Soccer” Podcast.where hosts Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Ian Wright and Roy Keane peppered McIlroy with Ryder Cup questions for more than half of McIlroy’s hour-plus appearance. And if you thought you’d already heard all there was to say about the various events at Bethpage, here are 10 new pieces of McIlroy’s commentary from the group chat.
the continuity of Europe
McIlroy explained to the group how important it is to get off to a good start in the team portion of the Ryder Cup, which Europe has historically been able to do. Neville wanted to know why.
“We have a lot of continuity within our team,” McIlroy said. “Same captain, same vice-captains. I feel like there’s a lot of movement on the American team from year to year.
“Over the years I would say that Europe, to win the Ryder Cup, has to be more cohesive and more together because, on paper, (the Americans) are stronger, they are deeper, all the way,” he continued. “But we exceed our baseline every time we go and play. This year, even more so.”
‘Worst feeling’
Sunday’s singles was a tough one for McIlroy, who played four out and lost to Scottie Scheffler on the final hole. The Americans came close to a historic comeback, but ultimately fell short.
“As an athlete, those 90 minutes where you’ve finished your match and you’re watching the other guys come in and you’re not in control of the situation, it’s like the worst feeling,” McIlroy said.
Europe was hoping for a record match day on Sunday
Heading into Sunday’s singles with a huge lead, McIlroy said Europe was hoping for a record winning run.
“(The Americans) beat us by a record margin in 2021,” he said. “So our thing was, OK, let’s beat them by the same score. That was our motivation. Obviously it didn’t materialize.”
Team Europe thought to keep their partners off the property
One of the biggest stories of the Ryder Cup was verbal abuse that the European team endured from fans at home – particularly McIlroy and his wife, Erica. When the topic of fan behavior came up during the group chat, McIlroy revealed that it had been suggested that the team’s partners spend time in New York City instead of Bethpage.
“We knew going into New York we were going to have a lot of clubs, a lot of abuse,” McIlroy said. “I was like, why don’t the girls just go to New York City for the week, have a good time, see you Sunday night? Because we knew what was going to happen.
“But in fairness to them, they were like, no, we want to be there, we want to support you, which is really nice.
“My thing was, I just didn’t want, if one of the partners heard something they didn’t like, then it affected the mood in the team or in the team room, so I just didn’t want them to bring it into the team room at all,” he continued.
“And in fairness to all wives and partners, they didn’t.”
The Bethpage crowds were the worst Rory has ever experienced
“2016, we played the Ryder Cup in Minnesota, and I thought it was (the worst),” McIlroy said. “I compare this year to 2016, and just like 2016 was nothing compared to some of the things we heard.”
Rory expected more crowd control from Keegan Bradley
“Keegan and I have talked about it,” McIlroy said. “I think you have to play home field advantage, absolutely. But I think, during the game on Friday night and Saturday night, after the things we heard on the field, I think there was a chance that either Keegan or some of the teammates were like, you know, let’s just chill here, let’s try to play this game in the right spirit.
“And some of them did, but obviously Keegan had the biggest platform of the week to be captain, and I feel like he could have said something on Friday or Saturday night and he didn’t,” he continued. “But in fairness, Sunday was a bit better, it seemed like the rhetoric calmed down a bit.”
The pressure of the Ryder Cup
Is there more pressure in team events than individual tournaments? Jill Scott wanted to know.
“Absolutely,” McIlroy replied. “And I probably struggled with my first two Ryder Cups. “I didn’t play with freedom because I didn’t want to make a mistake or let others down.
“It took me honestly in my third Ryder Cup in 2014 to feel like I could play myself and not have the fear of letting the team down or, you know, because as an individual sports person, you never have that.
Emotional fallout with opposing players
Is there any post-Ryder Cup beef between the players?
“There’s a chill for a few weeks or months after the Ryder Cup,” McIlroy said. “But I think it happens every couple of years, you know, we see each other every week, I feel like a lot of bad things get forgotten. These are shared experiences and like, yeah, we have disagreements or there are things that maybe I didn’t like that some of the Americans did … I’ve had conversations with them before about things, saying, look, you know what you’ve done.
But that’s all walks of life, you know, it’s not just the people you’re playing with. You have to be open and honest and at least be open to communicate with people and say like, look, I don’t want anything like that, bad between us here, and let’s work it out and move on.”
The fourfold strategy
McIlroy praised Luke Donald’s leadership and analysis was included in the pairings of Europe’s teams.
“The most strategic format of golf is foursome,” McIlroy said. “And if you look at our fours record in the last two Ryder Cups, we’ve played 16 fours matches, and I think it’s like 13-3 (Europe). So we’re killing them for that.”
Hitting the wall during Sunday singles
McIlroy went 3-1-1 at Bethpage, with his singles loss Sunday to Scottie Scheffler the only blemish on his record. In retrospect, McIlroy said the mental fatigue of the week finally caught up with him.
“I felt good, I would say for the front nine on Sunday,” he said. “And then I felt like I hit a wall, I completely lost the feeling of swinging.
“I was trying to hit, say, a 5-yard fade. I was trying to hit it left or right, and the ball was going out and going 15 yards from right to left. And I was like, what? I’ve never had that happen.
“You’re used to seeing the ball come out in a certain window, a certain shape, a certain trajectory, and that, I just felt like I was taking a swing to hit a fade, and I just wasn’t, and then at that point I just had to play with it.”
For more from McIlroy – including a deep dive into his Masters win and career Grand Slam hit – watch the full episode of Stick to Football. You can listen hereor watch the episode on YouTube below.
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