Rory McIlroy might be competing in his eighth Ryder Cup for Team Europe and going for his sixth win this weekend, but he praised the United States — the rival country he’ll square off against at Bethpage Black — during his press conference Thursday.
“Everyone wanted to make it in America,” McIlroy said, when asked about his impressions of the country as a child and how his thoughts are either similar or different after living there. “It’s the land of opportunity. And I still believe it’s the best country in the world, and if you come here and work hard and dedicate yourself, you can be or do whatever you want.
“I am unbelievably grateful and lucky that I got to come to America early on. I think success is celebrated here. I think there’s a wonderful sense of work ethic. And yeah, I live here. My wife is American. My daughter is American. I have a lot of affinity towards this country, and I think everyone that lives here should have that same affinity because it is, it’s a wonderful — it is a wonderful place.”
McIlroy grew up in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and he moved to Florida’s Palm Beach Gardens in 2013, according to the Palm Beach Post.
And while McIlroy and his wife, Erica Stoll, moved into a new home in the United Kingdom in July, they also still own a home in the Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Fla., the outlet added.
McIlroy filed for divorce from Stoll last year but scrapped those plans less than a month later, and they’ve continued their marriage.
The couple’s move back to the United Kingdom was part of a calendar year where McIlroy also finally completed the career Grand Slam, winning the Masters in April to end his lengthy drought.
At Bethpage, he’ll look to help the Europeans become the first road team to clinch a Ryder Cup victory since the “Miracle at Medinah” in 2012.
Matches open with foursomes Friday morning, and McIlroy will pair with Tommy Fleetwood to face Collin Morikawa and Harris English.
“Basically since 2012, you look at the results of the Ryder Cup, the home team has won every time,” McIlroy said. “But they also have won convincingly. You know, it’s been pretty one-sided either way. So whatever team, whether that’s Europe or America that is the one to break that, that duck, I think honestly is going to go down as one of the best teams in Ryder Cup history.”
