Rory McIlroy Wears Green Jacket To Wimbledon With Ryder Cup Stars

Thomas Bjorn, Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Edoardo Molinari all pictured at Wimbledon attending the tennis — (Image credit: Getty Images)

A lot has been made of Rory McIlroy's schedule of late, and on Wednesday his non-golfer calendar contained a European Ryder Cup day out at Wimbledon to take in some tennis

McIlroy was sporting his Masters Green Jacket after successfully defending his title at Augusta National, and took the acclaim of the Centre Court crowd as he was joined by several team mates and captain Luke Donald.

Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose were also at SW19 along with Thomas Bjorn and both Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo, as Team Europe had a day out in Wimbledon's exclusive Royal Box to celebrate their victory at Bethpage last year.

McIlroy's brilliant second successive Masters victory in April meant that he has another year of donning his Green Jacket out in public - as long as he gets permission from Augusta National as is the protocol.

McIlroy has recently moved back to the UK with a new home set up in the exclusive Wentworth estate, and he's spent time settling in with his family in between rare PGA Tour appearances and playing in the Majors.

The Northern Irishman has regularly skipped PGA Tour events in order to prepare for the Majors and enjoy life outside of golf, something which he's determined to carry on doing.

He'll likely fall short of playing the minimum tournament requirement to retain PGA Tour membership, but the Tour recently said that as a life member for hitting 20 wins he'd have a lower threshold to meet so would have no problems for 2027.

The six-time Major champion is a well-known tennis fan and has been to various big events before, including Wimbledon, and he was joined at the All England Club by wife Erica and his Ryder Cup teammates.

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Justin Rose and wife Kate were also pictured at Wimbledon along with Tommy Fleetwood and two-time winning captain Luke Donald and wife Diane.

After a crushing victory in Rome followed by historic success in New York, Donald is looking to win three in a row next year when the Ryder Cup returns to Ireland at Adare Manor.

Jim Furyk is having his second spell as Team USA captain in 2027 hoping to thwart Donald's three-peat and also end the long wait for an American win in Europe that now stretches back 33 years.

Rory McIlroy pictured with his wife Erica at Wimbledon tennis championship

Donald had his backroom boys with him too, as Thomas Bjorn, a victorious captain in Paris back in 2018, attended with Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari.

Francesco is tipped as a future captain after Donald, while Edoardo is the statistical brains behind the operation with his analysis on pairings and course management often cited as a crucial difference in Ryder Cups.

Whether the conversation drifts off to potential pairings for Ireland or course setup at Adare Manor during breaks in play we won't find out - as the European Ryder Cup stars enjoy watching the likes of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic among other big hitters of the tennis world.

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Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.