Ryder Cup legend says that Europe needs ‘fleeting’ Rory McIlroy to get up

With a long, successful history in Ryder Cups, Paul McGinley knows a few things about the biennial event. And the way McGinley sees it is a key to a European victory at Bethpage Black: for a “fleeting” Rory McIlroy to appear with his best game to New York.

McGinley made the comments in one Recent interview with BBC SportWherever he discussed why he believes that McIlroy might never be able to rise again to ranking no. 1 of the world.

Paul McGinley talks about the lack of ‘consistency’ of Rory Mcilroy

McGinley played on three European Ryder Cup teams and won all three events. He was then the European team for a crooked victory in the Ryder Cup 2014 in Gleneagles in Scotland. That year, the American team transferred to the fact that the decisions of the 65-year-old captain Tom Watson were established.

At Bethpage, McGinley records two different roles. He becomes an NBC sports analyst during the tournament, but he also acts as a strategic director for the European team.

McIlroy is without a doubt the best player in the European team. The World No. 2 completed the Grand Slam career in April with his first Masters victory and added three other victories in 2025.

But McIlroy also experienced a swim in his game in the middle of the season. McGinley acknowledged that such inconsistency is a characteristic of the game of McIlroy and called it ‘volatile’.

“Rory [McIlroy] Has always been a volatile performer; His career has never been a straight line, there have been a lot of dips and then he comes back, “said McGinley BBC Sport.

He continued: “Rory is charismatic, dynamic in how he plays, a risk-in-law and he attracts people because he plays in the Arnold Palmer style.”

McGinley also knows that the European team needs the world-complaining McIlroy to appear at Bethpage to have a chance of an upset victory on American soil. But he also sounded convinced that this would be the case next week.

“One of the things you can always say about Rory is when he has something in his sight line, he generally reaches and performs in general,” McGinley added.

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McGinley wonders if Rory Mcilroy will ever be number 1 again

Although McGinley is not worried about McIlroy’s performance at an event that he cares about, such as the 2025 Ryder Cup, he also noted the big differences between McIlroy and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Although McIlroy has reached the number 1 ranking in the past, McGinley doubted that he could overcome Scheffler, who is “more detailed and conservative in his approach” for first place.

“It is no surprise that Scheffler leads and will do the world ranking,” said McGinley. “I don’t know if Rory will ever lead the world ranking ever because he doesn’t have the consistency that scotting has.”

He continued: “Rory’s personality is in and out. He becomes a bloom, he is unbeatable and then he looks like he’s going to miss the cut and then he comes back.”

In the end, McGinley argued that those who win this Ryder Cup will come down if Europe’s top players such as McIlroy can perform their best for noisy crowds who are heavily biased in the direction of the American team.

“You can have all the atmosphere, all preparation, but the players can perform in a hostile environment – that is the question,” said McGinley. “Our top players can bring a huge series of points, because you win the Ryder Cup with the performance of top players.”