NEW DELHI — Rory McIlroy has expressed a desire to one day become European Ryder Cup captain, but not until “the mid-2030s.”
McIlroy returned to competitive action after helping Europe stay in the Ryder Cup by defeating the United States in New York last month and will play his first tournament in India this week.
The 36-year-old Northern Irishman has played in the last eight Ryder Cups and, as world No. 2 and current Masters champion, believes he will remain in the team for a few more, especially for the 2027 Ireland tournament.
But he said Wednesday that in the future he would like to lead the team as a captain rather than as a star player.
“I definitely want to be captain one day. I feel very lucky to have had a front row seat playing for the best captain in Ryder Cup history,” McIlroy said, citing 2014 winning captain Paul McGinley and Luke Donald, who led Europe in the last two games.
“But if we can continue to play well, I don’t think it will be until the mid-2030s,” he added.
McIlroy faced a barrage of abuse from the American audience at Bethpage Black, but in the heated atmosphere he occasionally fired back, resulting in this week’s subplot.
He believes this is unfortunate, especially considering Europe became the first team to win an away Ryder Cup since 2012.
“Just the last two weeks, I was able to watch the highlights and especially the first two days, you could see how good the European teams were in foursomes and fourballs,” McIlroy said. “The Americans would hit it close, but we would hit it closer. The Americans would hole the putt, and we would hole the putt up (and) it happened every time.”
“The unfortunate thing is that people don’t remember that and they remember that week for the wrong reasons. I’d like to change the subject and focus on how good the European team was and how proud I was to be part of that team and win the Ryder Cup away.”
McIlroy said he wants to make his schedule “more international” and is keen to play in India for a while. He will play the season finale of the European Tour in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in November, and the Australian Open in December.
“I think I’ve enjoyed traveling more over the last few years. I’ve enjoyed traveling,” he said. “It was a lot of fun to play in front of people I had never played in front of before.”
McIlroy, a self-confessed cricket “sicko”, said he was disappointed not to be able to watch India’s popular sport during his trip.
“I would love to come back and do that,” he said.
