Written by Ewan Murray at The Guardian.com
As Rory McIlroy is inevitably highlighted as a leader within Europe’s Ryder Cup team and a player the United States identify as a blue chip opponent, it will be easy to forget wide-eyed youthfulness. Whereas now McIlroy is a global superstar and four-time major champion, there was a time in the not-so distant past that Darren Clarke, Europe’s captain, was Northern Ireland’s revered golfing son.
“It’s probably close to 14 years ago when I first met Darren,” McIlroy recalls. “I’d be quite sure Darren wouldn’t really recollect the moment another star-struck kid stood staring at him but I hung on his every word back then.
“This was a multiple European and PGA Tour winner chatting to me, someone who had convincingly beaten Tiger Woods in a WGC Match Play Championship. I was there to listen and learn. I was taken by how ordinary and approachable he was and when he said that golf was a tough business and I must hang in there, whatever happened, I came away brimming with confidence and a real desire to improve my game.
“I think it’d be safe to say that Darren was a very strong influence on the early development and direction of my game. I was lucky to have Darren as a sounding board as I developed and I felt extremely honoured when he said: ‘Give me a call whenever you fancy a chat.’ It was a particularly special moment in my life and career when Darren, Graeme [McDowell] and I appeared at Royal Portrush with our major trophies – lots of pride and plenty of banter, too.
“Today, we catch up and chat as often as our schedules allow and I’m really looking forward to Darren, with all his knowledge and passion, being at the helm of the European team.”
In McIlroy, Clarke has a golfer with a natural love of the team dynamic. The 27-year-old denies the passing of 2016 without the claiming of a major intensifies his own desire to taste more Ryder Cup success.
“Major or not this year, the Ryder Cup is an entirely different animal than anything we golfers undertake,” McIlroy says. “Obviously there’s the [world] Match Play every year, and perhaps a couple of similar, head-to-head events on either tour, but the comparisons pretty much stop there.
“At no time in any event are we reliant on a captain and his support team for strategy, geared up in the same kit and battling against the might of the Americans. And that’s not to mention the almost fever pitch atmosphere in the locker room and the determination of every golfer to play not for himself but for his partner and as part of the greater team. Every personal ambition or shot at glory pales into insignificance and is given up to putting blue on the board.
“In my early years as a professional, I perhaps didn’t fully grasp the strength of feeling amongst a Ryder Cup team or how golfers could really throw themselves into an event where they were jumping around, hugging and yelling when a team-mate’s putts fell. I now get that. I now get that in a very big way.”
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