Rory McIlroy on US Ryder Cup team: 'All they rally around is the flag and it turns a little bit militaristic'
Rory McIlroy was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast.
Rory McIlroy said a lack of unifying factors other than patriotism has hindered the American Ryder Cup team in recent years.
McIlroy was part of the European team which claimed victory over the US at Bethpage Black this year.
"They haven't had a great run in the Ryder Cup over the last 30 years," McIlroy said on the Stick to Football podcast.
"And we've been able to rally around a lot of our past players. Seve is still a big sort of focal point for us. They don't really have that.
"So then all they rally around is the flag and it sort of turns a little bit militaristic. It's very patriotic, which is great. It doesn't seem like they have anything else to rally around, if that makes sense.
"They can't look to past players or bring past players in that have had a lot of success at the Ryder Cup because there hasn't been for so long. So I think that's where we have an inbuilt advantage, where because we've had this success for the last 30 years, we can focus on other things."
The European team, and McIlroy in particular, were subjected to abuse from the American crowd at the New York course. McIlroy believes American captain Keegan Bradley could have done more to calm the crowd.
"Keegan and I have talked about this," said McIlroy.
"I think you have to play into the home field advantage. Absolutely. During the competition on Friday night and Saturday night, after the stuff that we heard on the course, I think there was an opportunity for either Keegan or some of the teammates to be like, 'Let's just calm down here. Let's try to play this match in the right spirit'. And some of them did that. But obviously, Keegan had the biggest platform of the week of being the captain.
"And I feel like he could have said something on that Friday or Saturday night, and he didn't. In fairness, Sunday was a little bit better. It seemed like the rhetoric was sort of calmed down a bit."
McIlroy also addressed the rift created in golf by the introduction of the LIV Tour. The world number two is unsure if Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will continue to bankroll the tour if it continues to lack public support.
"If LIV is failing to capture the imagination and they've spent so much money on this venture and it isn't making a return for them, I don't know how much longer they can keep it going," he said.
McIlroy would welcome back players who have defected from the PGA Tour, like Bryson DeChambeau.
"They've paid their consequence in terms of the... you talk about the reputation and some of the things that they've lost by going over there. If it made the overall tour stronger to have Bryson DeChambeau back and whoever else, I would be okay with it.
"But again, it's not just me. And I recognise that not everyone's in my position. It would be up to the collective group of PGA Tour members to make that decision."
McIlroy appeared on the podcast with Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Ian Wright, Jamie Carragher, and Jill Scott. On an episode of the show earlier this year, Keane had little sympathy for the abuse suffered by the Europeans at the Ryder Cup. McIlroy, a Manchester United supporter, gave a "peace offering" - a flag from his victory at this year's Masters - to Keane on Friday's episode. It read, "Thanks for all the great memories watching United over the years."
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