Rory McIlroy thinks Team USA will enter the Ryder Cup with a “big advantage” as they will be playing in front of their home crowd. The 36-year-old will be aiming to help Europe retain the title they won in Italy two years ago when the action gets underway at Bethpage Black in New York at the end of the month.
Team Europe have named 11 of the same 12 players who starred in Rome the last time the competition was held, with Rasmus Hojgaard replacing his twin brother Nicolai. The competition has been won by the team playing at home in every edition of the Ryder Cup since Europe triumphed at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois in 2012, with USA going into this year’s competition as the slight favourites. And McIlroy clearly feels Europe are underdogs.
“I’ve said this repeatedly but I think winning an away Ryder Cup is up there with one of the biggest achievements in the game, especially nowadays,” explained the Northern Irishman.
“There’s a reason every Ryder Cup for the last 10 years has gone to the home team. They have a big advantage from the set-up of the course to how partisan the crowd is.
“But I think the Europeans have a wonderful opportunity this year to achieve something very, very special – but it’s going to be very difficult. Make no mistake, we know we’re up against it. We know we’ve got a tall task on our hands.”
McIlroy added: “They have a very strong team. They’re going to have a pretty raucous crowd on their side and on a golf course that a lot of them know pretty well from previous tournaments.
“But I love the team that Luke [Donald] has assembled. It’s a very strong 12 players and I think it’s the right 12 players.
“You could certainly make that case [that the players are stronger than they were two years ago]. You could argue that pretty much every player is more accomplished than two years ago.
“Someone like Bob MacIntyre has won a couple times on the PGA Tour and had a chance to win the US Open.
“I think when we went to Rome, you had some guys that were purely foursome players, some guys were purely fourball players. I think now we have more flexibility within that 12.”
The Ryder Cup action is due to get underway on Friday, September 26, with the competition coming to an end two days later.