World No.2 Rory McIlroy Reveals Turning down Chance of Being Playing Captain at Ryder Cup

Rory McIlroy admitted that he shot down the idea of being a playing captain at the Ryder Cup while citing the difficulties of this role.

World No.2 Rory McIlroy Reveals Turning down Chance of Being Playing Captain at Ryder Cup

Rory McIlroy (Image via Imago)

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Rory McIlroy is back on the playing field. After missing the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the World No.2 will play in the BMW Championship this week. Ahead of the event, he revealed that he turned down the chance of being a playing captain for Team Europe at the Ryder Cup.

This year, the Ryder Cup will take place at the Bethpage Course in New York. McIlroy, who was the first member from Europe to qualify for the event, will be hoping for another strong performance from his side to help his team go back-to-back in this tournament.

One major talking point regarding this event this time has been the potential chance of seeing a playing captain for the first time in over 62 years. U.S. Captain Keegan Bradley is currently ranked 10th in the Ryder Cup standings and is eligible to pick himself as one of the six captain’s picks.

Since his triumph at the 2025 Travelers Championship, many have backed Bradley to back himself and become the playing captain. While he has not made any decision regarding this yet, Rory McIlroy spoke on the potential of him doing such a thing for the European side.

In the press conference of the BMW Championship, the 5-time major champion revealed that he ‘shot down‘ this opportunity as he does not believe that one can do it.

The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon coming up has come up, and I’ve shot it down straight away.

Rory McIlroy told the reporters

He went on to explain the duties and commitments the captains have during the Ryder Cup week as his reason to turn down the chance of him taking the playing captain role.

I just think the commitments that a captain has the week of — you think about the extra media that a captain has to do, you think about the extra meetings that the captains have to do with the vice captains, with the PGA of America, in Keegan’s case, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony. Just there’s a lot of things that people don’t see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now that the Ryder Cup has become so big.

Rory McIlroy added

The captain’s role this year for Team Europe will be handed by Luke Donald once again. After winning the tournament in commanding fashion in 2023, he was retained as the captain and will now be hoping to successfully defend the title.

Rory McIlroy comments on skipping FedEx St. Jude Championship last week

Last week, the 2025 FedEx Cup playoffs commenced with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. Out of the top 70 in the rankings, Rory McIlroy was the only player who decided to skip this event. On Wednesday, the reigning Masters Champion commented on this matter.

Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy (Image via Imago)

McIlroy, who finished 2nd in the FedEx Cup standings, decided not to tee off at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. As a result of his performances this year, he was guaranteed to be part of the top 50 players who would play in the BMW Championship this week.

While his decision sparked some concerns among the PGA Tour officials, McIlroy simply claimed that he still has a long stretch this year.

I’m playing nine times between now and the end of the year, so I’ve still got a pretty busy stretch coming up… Some big events that are important to me — the Irish Open, Wentworth, obviously the Ryder Cup. I want to try to win my seventh Race to Dubai over in Europe as well.

Rory McIlroy told the reporters

McIlroy will tee off alongside World No.1 Scottie Scheffler at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland for the first two rounds. The top two players in the world will tee off at 11:16 AM (Eastern Time) during the first round on Thursday.

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