Rory McIlroy Dismisses Idea of Being a Playing Captain at 2027 Ryder Cup

The seven-time Ryder Cupper for Europe said "it's one or the other" when it comes to being a player or a captain.

Rory McIlroy has played in seven Ryder Cups for Europe including last year's win in Rome. / Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports

Rory McIlroy has dismissed the idea of him potentially being a playing captain at the 2027 Ryder Cup in Ireland, an idea that he says was broached but quickly put to rest.

McIlroy, 35, who returned to action Thursday with a 65 at the Genesis Scottish Open in his first round since his heartbreaking second-place finish to Bryson DeChambeau at the U.S. Open last month, was asked the question in the context of Keegan Bradley’s appointment for the U.S. captaincy in 2025.

Bradley has never served in an assistant’s role and hasn’t taken part in a Ryder Cup since 2014. He expressed a desire to make his own team.

“I’ve contemplated it for Adare (Manor, the site of the 2027 Ryder Cup) and no, there's too much work that goes into it,” McIlroy told reporters following his round at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, without saying how the subject was broached. “I've seen what Luke (Donald) went through preparing for Rome—there's no way you can be as good a captain as you need to be and be a playing captain as well.”

Donald, the winning captain last year in Rome, was reappointed by Europe to take on the role against next year at Bethpage Black. McIlroy said he learned of the Bradley appointment via Donald on Sunday night.

“I think disbelief,” McIlroy said of his initial reaction.  “I think Keegan was probably in disbelief, at some point, too, but certainly an interesting pick. The youngest captain since Arnold Palmer I think was a playing captain at 34 (in 1963). But he knows Bethpage very well. He went to university in the area (St. John’s). He's obviously very passionate about the Ryder Cup.”

Bradley, 38, was the surprise pick for the job after Tiger Woods turned it down. Woods said he was not taking himself out of consideration for a future captaincy, and Ireland makes sense.

That would have set up a nice storyline with McIlroy taking on the captaincy as a player. Woods was a victorious player-captain for the United States at the 2019 Presidents Cup.

“If you want to be the best captain you can be, you can’t play,” McIlroy said. “And if you want to be the best player you can be, you can’t captain. It’s one or the other. Especially with how big the Ryder Cup has become and how many things you have to do in the lead-up to the event, the week of the event.”

McIlroy noted that Bradley is ranked 19th in the Official World Golf Ranking and would have a good chance of making the American team. “And then I think he’d just have to give that captaincy role to one of his vice captains.”

Now 35, McIlroy has played in a total of seven Ryder Cups for Europe dating to 2010 with a record of 16-13-4.