THE RYDER CUP

September 28, 2025

Rory McIlroy

Bethpage Black Course

Team Europe

Quick Quotes

Q. How proud are you in this moment?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, extremely proud to be a part of this team. I'm extremely proud of every single one of the players, the vice captains, the captain, all the back room support staff. This was unbelievable collective effort. As soon as we won in Rome we turned our attention to trying to do something that everyone thought was pretty impossible to do, not just win in America but win here in New York.

It's just been an amazing week.

Q. You were emotional four years ago at Whistling Straits, and I sense some emotion now but how different are the feelings now?

RORY McILROY: To hear the "Olés" here in America, honestly, to do something that a lot of people thought that we couldn't do. I mean, the comments and what people were saying after Whistling Straits about the decades of American dominance, that was -- we took a lot from that. We let that fuel us, and we got so lucky in getting an incredible leader in Luke Donald. He shepherded us through this process and he's been absolutely amazing. A lot of the credit has to go down to him. 11 of the 12 players from Rome came back. We did what we needed to do and we are going to celebrate like there's no tomorrow.

When you think about the last away Ryder Cup about what people were saying about decades of American dominance, whether it was home for them or away, and to be able to do what we've done in Rome and then here, you know, it shut a lot of people up.

Q. Two years ago, you said it, you're going to Bethpage to win. How is it feeling?

RORY McILROY: Pretty surreal, this whole grandstand is full of Europeans singing. It is absolutely incredible. So proud to be a part of this team and so proud of the vice captains, all the players, and the backroom team. It's been one massive collective effort. Once we won in Rome we turned our attention to this because we knew, okay, we had the blueprint for a home Ryder Cup, what do we need to do differently to try to manage an away one. We did the right things.

Q. You led the team out there. How tough was it personally out there for you?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's been a really tough week. It's been really tough. I felt I didn't have much today. I didn't feel I put up that much of a fight against Scottie. He wasn't at his best either. If we were at our best, the level of golf would have been better.

When you win a Ryder Cup, it isn't about you. It's about the team, and we did enough to get the job done.