Ryder Cup: Rory McIlroy happy to take on senior role for Europe
"You have a lot of great players on the team that... will put their hand up to be one of the leaders," says McIlroy ahead of Ryder Cup, live on Sky Sports
By Keith Jackson at Le Golf National
Last Updated: 26/09/18 12:35pm
Rory McIlroy is prepared to be one of Europe's "team leaders" and is ready to play in all five sessions as he prepares for his fifth Ryder Cup this week.
McIlroy is still only 29 years old, but he has more Ryder Cup experience than many in the team and is happy to be a port of call for the five rookies in the squad at Le Golf National.
The four-time major champion took on a senior role in the side at Hazeltine two years ago and enjoyed a superb partnership with Belgian debutant Thomas Pieters, but he insisted there are plenty of other players on the team to look up to as Europe bid to extend their 25-year unbeaten record on home soil.
"Whatever the guys want me to do or whatever Thomas [Bjorn] thinks my role should be, that's what I'm going to play," he said. "I'm sure I'll be one of the leaders, but I think you have a lot of great players on the team that have played in a lot of Ryder Cups and will put their hand up to be one of the leaders and to try to lead by example.
"Justin Rose, who was No 1 in the world just a couple weeks ago and now the FedExCup winner, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, they are guys that have played in a lot of Ryder Cups and have had a lot of success individually and in team events.
"I'm just one of those guys, I'm one of 12 and I'll do whatever I can to help the team, and I just want to get ready and get prepared so that when I tee off on Friday morning, I'm going to be ready to go and ready to play five if needed.
"I think that the strength of Europe has been we all get behind one another and even whatever differences we may have, we put them to the side for this week, and we're a cohesive unit, and that's the way we try to be.
"I think that's obviously served us well for the Ryder Cups that we've had success in, especially in the last few years, going back to, I guess, The Belfry in 2002 and all the way through.
"Europe has had a pretty good run. Obviously there's been a couple losses in there, as well, which is to be expected. You're playing, you know, the best players, not just in America, but they are most of the best players in the world."
McIlroy also expects the course set-up at Le Golf National to be more suited to the European players, and he is certain it will provide a far tougher test of golf than at Hazeltine National two years ago.
"You get punished if you hit it off-line here," he added. "I feel like at Hazeltine, the punishment wasn't high enough if you hit it off-line, and I guess that played into some of the American players' hands, because they have guys that just hit it so long.
"I think for the bulk of the European team, they would welcome a set-up more of this style. I'm not saying the American guys can't hit the fairways, they are all some of the best players in the world, but I think just looking at it, it would seem the style of golf course is more familiar to us than something like we saw at Hazeltine last time."
