Rory Mcilroy said Ryder Cup was not ‘important’. Then came the call with Seve

During his nearly two decades in the spotlight of professional golf, Rory Mcilroy It is determined by his evolution, as a player and a human being.

Maybe there is no event that best involves the transformation of Mcilroy by Golf Prodigy into a large generative than Ryder cup. Back in 2009, Mcilroy was a 20-year-old star who headed towards his first Ryder Cup in 2010.

In fact, Mcilroy famously did not get the fuss.

“It’s not that important an event for me,” Mcilroy said in 2009. “Is an exhibition at the end of the day.

In the years after that, Mcilroy, who is now ready to make his eighth Ryder Cup appearance, has said many times that he lost the point completely. What he once saw as an exhibition has become an event closely intertwined with his soul. Mcilroy helped Key Europe’s historic return in 2012 to Medinah, calmed down by playing Zuzar on Earth in 2016 in Hazeltin, was overcome with emotion after a poor performance in the 2021 loss of Europe and Proudly predicted Europe would win 2025 publication in Bethpage Black While pushing his chest at a winning press conference of 2023.

When there was once indifference, Mcilroy now has reverence – for the event, for the history of Europe, for those who came before him and for those who will get the torch when it is done.

Mcilroy’s circle began in 2010 when he entered the basis in Celtic Manor for a Ryder cup ending with Europe winning 14.5-13.5. But there were things outside the course that started talking to the Mcilroy golf romantic.

“I think there are more things back-tons: the team’s room, the team talks,” Mcilroy said Thursday at Bethpage Black. “For me, entering like a full novice – see, I watched Ryder Cups grow. I cried whenever America won in Brookline (in 1999). Just as it was not to feel something when I looked at Ryder Cups.

Then came a memorable call to the conference with the legendary Spanish golf player Seve Ballesteros.

At that time, Ballesteros was sick with brain cancer. Captain Collin Montgomerie placed a conference call between Ballestero and the entire European team, which helped Carment Mcilroy’s evaluation of the biennial collision.

“I remember that Seve was sick and we had him in one of those conference calls things like again during the day. He is talking to the team, and we are all in the team’s room,” Mcilroy said. “This is like Wednesday or Thursday evening. And I look around and most of the team is crying while Seve is talking to us. And I’m like, this is that. This is the embodiment of what is the European Ryder Cup team. I think it was the moment, that conference with the SEVE in 2010, it was the moment for me.”

Since that moment, Mcilroy has joined a background of European Lion Ryder Cup.

With Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Svenson all, Mcilroy and Justin Rose are now elderly citizens on the European side.

The picture of the golf poetry that the child who once failed to see why the Ryder Cup was important now is what everyone follows.

“He is definitely a great and very capable player, very experienced,” Victor Hovland told Mcilroy. “But he also carries a lot of weight in the team’s room, too. He’s very comforting to have there. He makes everyone in the team’s room feel good. And I think he brings the best in everyone there.”

Added Jon Rahm: “He has gone from undoubtedly a very good player in an excellent Ryder Cup player to be now, I would say, the cornerstone that Europe needs for Europe. It is special to have it around. He’s a superstar.

Mcilroy is 16-13-4 in Ryder Cups, but was prevalent in Rome, going 4-1-0 to lead Europe to a convincing victory.

Up the other? The last step in his evolution from the uncontrolled Wunderkind to Ryder Cup Lion: Earn another on foreign land.

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