Rory McIlroy Believes Team Europe Were Able To ‘Flourish’ Without LIV Golfers

Rory McIlroy - Europe’s MVP at the 2023 Ryder Cup - believes he and his fellow stars were able to “flourish” at Marco Simone due to the absence of several “big personalities” who ruled themselves out of contention after joining LIV Golf.

Team Europe triumphed 16.5-11.5 just outside of the Italian capital, Rome, to record the men in blue’s seventh consecutive home win while wrapping up an extraordinary Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup double.

A week after Carlota Ciganda drained the winning putt for Suzann Pettersen's dozen at Finca Cortesin, McIlroy went out fourth in Sunday’s singles matches and defeated Sam Burns 3&1 to put Luke Donald's hosts in full control early on.

It was the Northern Irishman’s fourth point from a possible five in the week, adding to Viktor Hovland’s 3.5 from five and Jon Rahm’s three from four.

Tyrrell Hatton - having failed to win a singles match at the Ryder Cup in two previous attempts - beat Brian Harman 3&2 to claim 3.5 points from four, and Tommy Fleetwood continued his love affair with the transatlantic competition by bagging three from four.

The five Europeans enjoyed a dream weekend in Italy, and McIlroy claimed it may not have been possible for the young team to blossom had the likes of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, and Graeme McDowell all been involved.

Winners of multiple Ryder Cups and filled to the brim with experience, the latter quintet were not considered for selection by Donald as a result of resigning their DP World Tour cards after joining the LIV Golf League last year and being hit with bans and fines.

With many suggesting - pre-Ryder Cup - that Team Europe lacked the requisite experience to edge past their American rivals in Rome, McIlroy argued the available growing room actually helped Donald’s men in the end.

Speaking to The Telegraph on Monday about the likes of Poulter and Garcia, McIlroy said: “So the one thing I would say is that they’ve had unbelievable Ryder Cup careers and they’ve made their choices, and they’ve done what they’ve done and no one can take away the impact that they’ve had for the European team over the years.

“But I feel like this week, not having those big personalities in the team room let other guys have that chance to flourish and to shine: Viktor [Hovland], Jon [Rahm], myself. There wasn’t a ton of space taken up in that room by some of the other big personalities and I think that let the rest of the team just sort of flourish.

“It’s a young team. We can all grow together. I could potentially be the oldest person on the team next time. It’s a new era. And it’s a pretty good one.”

Poulter, Garcia, and Westwood were among the exiled players to send messages of congratulations to the Europeans following their success - with the first two previously expressing their interest at returning to the DP World Tour, if only to take part in at least one more Ryder Cup.

But McIlroy’s good friend Shane Lowry agreed with the World No.2 when suggesting the new era of Team Europe is in a great place as it is.

Lowry said: “I think not having those guys there this week gave certain guys the opportunity to be something different in the team room. And I think that made a big difference.

“We have had three of the world’s top four [ranked] players in the team room this week. Those [LIV] guys are obviously big Ryder Cup legends and have been amazing. But if they had been in the team room, maybe Rory, Jon and Viktor wouldn’t have been what they were this week.”