Rory McIlroy sends Ryder Cup message with choice | Golf News

Rory McIlroy is setting his sights on clinching his second Open title at Royal Portrush this week, but he is also bought the Ryder Cup on his radar.

McIlroy, who has acquired loads of assist in his homeland this week, is in a sturdy place to take home the win in Northern Ireland after an spectacular third spherical. He kicked off Saturday with three birdies in his first 4 holes before ending with a spherical of 66, placing him within hanging distance of the lead.

While the Masters champion would undoubtedly relish a victory on home turf and the prospect to add a sixth main championship to his CV, he is also gunning for a sixth Ryder Cup win and his second on American soil later this yr. The 2025 Ryder Cup is slated for September at Bethpage Black in New York.

And it is clear that golf’s premier workforce occasion is not far from McIlroy’s thoughts. As he warmed up on the vary before his spherical on Saturday, BBC Sport NI reporter Faith Harper seen a Team Europe membership cowl peeking out of the Grand Slam champion’s bag.

What made this sight significantly intriguing was the very fact that McIlroy was training proper next to Keegan Bradley, the captain of Team USA. While it is unsure whether or not McIlroy’s choice of membership cowl was deliberate, it definitely sends a clear message about where his allegiance lies.

McIlroy performed a key function in serving to Team Europe snatch back the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome, Italy, two years in the past, but he is only tasted victory once on American soil: at Medinah, Illinois, in 2012. And he is been open about his ambition to secure one other win in the United States.

Following his triumph in Rome, McIlroy expressed his perception about the Ryder Cup’s significance, stating: “I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup. And that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.”

During a dialog with Golf Monthly final yr, when requested about Team Europe’s strategy for victory in New York, McIlroy emphasised the significance of workforce tradition, saying: “I think it’s through building a really good culture around our team.

“It’s very nice that we’ve got the continuity in Luke Donald as our captain again to lead us to Bethpage and strive to do it, so I’m excited for the problem.

“I’m under no illusions that it’s going to be really tough. We’ll have to face the New York crowd, and we’ll be up against a really strong American team at home. It’s going to be really hard, but we proved in Rome we can do it with a really young team.

“Hopefully, those guys all have a little bit more expertise next yr at Bethpage. If I have been to be half of a Ryder Cup workforce that received at Bethpage, it could actually be one of the very best achievements in my profession.”

In the interim, McIlroy is set to compete for a main championship on home soil in Northern Ireland, with Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick among the highest contenders at Royal Portrush.