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ROME – Rory McIlroy has finished in the top 10 in eight of his last 10 major championship appearances, including two solo runners-up finishes. Incredibly impressive stuff. AND brutally unsuccessful. This is a man who, now 34, talks openly about being in the bottom nine of his career and who, when he lays his head down at night, probably devotes one last silent thought to the fact that he hasn’t won a major. . in a decade. When it comes to year-over-year play, he is arguably the best golfer of the last 10 years, and the most disappointing.
So yes, you may take things a little personally.
McIlroy stood behind the 16th green at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club on Sunday a product of all his parts. The talented one: He scored more points than anyone else in the 2023 Ryder Cup, going 4-1. The emotional: Cheeks still red from pressing his eyes shut and roaring in the air after a head-to-head victory over Sam Burns. The Candid: Offers an unfiltered depiction of the events of Saturday night, when all hell broke loose and battle lines were drawn. The prude, that prudish side that discourages many, whether justified or not.
The afternoon was already late and a European victory was in sight. It was around this time two years ago, when the Euros were upside down in the midst of a 19-9 American rout, that McIlroy collapsed on live television after his Sunday singles match. He later said that he wished he had done more for his team in a week in which he went 1-3-0. He said losing in team play comes at a higher price than in a normal tournament. “I never cried or got emotional about what I did as an individual,” he said on Whistling Straits. “I couldn’t give how…”
Seeing things close in Rome, McIlroy said Sunday: “It’s the best competition in golf. “It means a lot to me.”
It was hard not to believe him.
Europe won this Ryder Cup, 16 1/2 to 11 1/2. The process began with a bang on Friday, turned hostile on Saturday and closed on Sunday. The week in Marco Simone will be, as always in Ryder Cup postscripts, intensely analyzed in a search for a unifying theory as to why some teams win Ryder Cups and why others don’t. This event, the ultimate team competition in the ultimate individual sport, lends itself more than any other to the thesis. We are already immersed in a biennial tradition: diagnosing indefinable components such as camaraderie and questioning formats and asking ourselves again why the home team always wins in a landslide. Trust that everything will repeat itself in 2025 in Bethpage.
It can all seem a little repetitive, a little predictable.
However, the Ryder Cup remains perhaps the most attractive product the sport can produce.
Because?
Well, whether you like it or not, just follow Rory.
What happened at Marco Simone on Saturday night has probably not been fully or adequately processed.
Arguably the most famous player in professional golf (McIlroy) accosted the most famous caddy in professional golf (Jim “Bones” Mackay) in the corridor of a Roman golf course. Because? Because another caddy (Joe LaCava) celebrated a 45-foot birdie putt by waving an imaginary hat in the air. Because? Because their player (Patrick Cantlay) was accused in a press report that same day of fracturing relations with the US Ryder Cup team out of frustration over not being paid for participation in the Ryder Cup and deciding, above all, not to wear a hat in protest, and was subsequently taunted all afternoon by hat-waving European fans.
I have it?
The whole scene sparked a listless and lifeless proceedings at the Ryder Cup. The Americans lost Friday’s opening session 4-0, quickly dashing some hopes that this year could finally deliver a close, drama-filled Cup. Day 1 ended with Team Europe leading 6 1⁄2 to 1 1⁄2 and, desperately needing to bounce back on Saturday, the Americans were defeated again in the morning foursomes, 3-1, falling behind by a seemingly insurmountable seven points. facing the day. 2 afternoon matches.
In the fourth session, two of the three matches ended with the Americans earning a point, but McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick had a chance to even things up with a win over Cantlay and Wyndham Clark. In a close match with few changes, McIlroy and Fitz looked ready to close their 1-up lead. Instead, Cantlay went nuclear, stealing a halved hole on the 16th, making a birdie on the 17th to extend the match and then turning the 18th into a moment that will forever mark his career. Cantlay, who apparently did not know the details of the Air sports report who had split the team and made one of the best clutch putts in Ryder Cup history. With his hand to his ear, he egged on the crowd as the American players waved their caps and roared with laughter. Meanwhile, LaCava, one of the most respected caddies in the game, made an unexpected decision to stroll around the green celebrating.
McIlroy, incredulous and still not making the putt, told LaCava to move.
La Cava did not move.
Now things went from being lively to something more. LaCava, 68, barked at McIlroy, wandered around a bit more and then barked again at a group of European players standing next to the green. One of them, Shane Lowry, a burly Irishman better suited for a rugby field, was especially offended. He responded, bellowing through a long, unkempt beard, but made his point clearly. LaCava responded by telling him to “fuck off.” The whole moment turned into confusion and fighting. But Cantlay and Clark achieved victory.
Then came the incident in the car park: cameras captured McIlroy crossing paths with Mackay, shouting wildly, and Lowry stopping him.
The inevitable followed. Video breakdowns with forensic detail. Lipreading. Theories. All of this, bird food for social networks.
Regardless of how absurd or exaggerated it all was, it was real and the 2023 Ryder Cup took on a completely different life.
In an event that, in the modern world of golf in which both sides primarily play on the PGA Tour and are friends in real life, can often seem lifeless, this version now felt personal.
Did everyone take it that way or feel that heat? No, certainly not. Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa weren’t wrapping their hands. Many others, however? Yes, things were tense.
Nobody more than McIlroy. Recounting the events, he said that “I was actually about to leave my bag (Saturday) and go to the American locker room because he was so angry.” He said he was “completely disrespectful” and that he was “the angriest I’ve been in a long time.”
McIlroy said this after his 3 and 1 win over Burns in singles on Sunday. He spoke behind the 16th green and the whole ordeal still seemed fresh in his mind. He said he “fueled the whole team” and got them focused for Sunday’s 1-on-1 game. He added that he read excerpts from Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations” early in the day to “put me in the right frame of mind.” He said that he has long appreciated studying Stoic philosophy. (You could feel McIlroy’s detractors rolling their eyes.)
What passages from the former Roman emperor did McIlroy read on Sunday? We have no idea, but for the sake of a good story, let’s assume he was “Accept the things fate unites you to and love the people fate unites you to.”
The European team certainly bounced back under McIlroy after Saturday’s events. In turn, needing just 3 1/2 points to finish off the Americans, they split Sunday’s session 6-6, getting 1/2 points from Lowry (vs. Jordan Spieth) and Jon Rahm (vs. Scottie Scheffler), and full points from Hovland (defeated Morikawa), Tyrrell Hatton (defeated Brian Harman), Tommy Fleetwood (defeated Rickie Fowler) and Robert MacIntyre (defeated Clark).
EUROPE IS ON BURN 🏆🇪🇺#TeamEurope | #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/eiASuCaQ78
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) October 1, 2023
As for the point McIlroy put on the board, he beat Burns with eight birdies and no bogeys in 17 holes. He led 2-up after three holes and never allowed Burns to get back into the tie.
For the week, McIlroy’s four points were the most of any player on Marco Simone. He alone matched the production of the top three American players: Scheffler (1 point), Xander Schauffele (1) and Cantlay (2).
As for the situation with LaCava, McIlroy said he received a text message but had not yet spoken to him. He said everything will pass with time. Worth noting is the odd comment that LaCava is the former caddy of Tiger Woods, with whom McIlroy is a close friend and business partner.
When contacted after Cantlay’s singles victory over Justin Rose, LaCava declined to comment, saying U.S. captain Zach Johnson asked him not to speak to reporters about Saturday’s brouhaha.
“That’s how the Ryder Cup goes,” McIlroy said on Sunday. “You have to have a tough skin. That’s the way it is.”
Two years ago, McIlroy’s tears at Whistling Straits were real. This weekend, so was his fire, his fury, his frustration, and his mischief.
For all the false controversy and theatrics in the long history of Ryder Cup histrionics, this event is what it is because in the annals of the great players who represented their countries, those who left their marks were the ones who felt in the marrow.
The Ryder Cup means what each player makes it mean to them. Not all members of the U.S. team appeared downcast or injured Saturday. Some seemed quite indifferent. And that’s fine. This is not an event that requires a mandatory mortgage on one’s own person. But the image of Scheffler wiping tears from his eyes after a foursome loss Saturday morning shows exactly what it means to a guy who won the Masters. And the strained emotion on Johnson’s face Sunday shows what a loss means to a captain with two major championships. On the European side, Rahm arrived in Rome ready to fight a lion on the floor of the Colosseum to recover the Cup for Spain. Fleetwood seemed like a guy who had fulfilled some kind of personal destiny.
McIlroy, meanwhile, looked like a proper man.
“Playing there,” he said, pointing to the course, “in those conditions, in that atmosphere, makes the final round of a major feel like a walk in the park.”
Does it feel more important than a specialization?
“I don’t know,” he replied. “I think it’s different. A team event and individual events, I think are a little different. “I still want to achieve a lot as an individual, but these Ryder Cup wins are very sweet.”
The truth is, with more and more waves of young talent arriving in professional golf, and McIlroy often feeling incredibly close but incredibly far from winning that long-sought fifth major, a performance like his at Marco Simone might carry more weight now .
And that probably means more than anyone can know.
(Illustration: Samuel Richardson / The Athletic; photos: Alberto Pizzoli, Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)