Rory McIlroy drops retirement hint at Ryder Cup with one eye on the future

Rory McIlroy is hopeful of playing in many more Ryder Cups (Image: GETTY) Rory McIlroy has ruled out retiring any time soon with hopes of being part of the next generation of European stars to take the Ryder Cup by storm in the next few years. At 34 years of age, McIlroy is now one of the more senior players on Europe’s Ryder Cup team. The old guard of Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have all been moved on – involuntarily due to their involvement with LIV Golf. Only Justin Rose, 43, and Shane Lowry, 36, are older than McIlroy on Luke Donald’s squad of 12 for this year’s Ryder Cup team. It’s also McIlroy’s seventh consecutive Ryder Cup having made his debut in the biennial competition back in 2010. Most players are fortunate if they get to feature in one Ryder Cup in their careers but McIlroy is well on his way to breaking records. Phil Mickelson holds the record for most Ryder Cups played in [12] while Nick Faldo and Westwood played in 11 each. For McIlroy to get close to matching that tally he’ll need to play in the next four Ryder Cups taking him to his 42nd birthday. Rory McIlroy is now one of the old guard for Team Europe (Image: Getty) Europe’s changing of the guard this year has made McIlroy take stock on his own career. But the four-time major champion is hopeful that he can still play a part of the new-look European squad. ‘There was a bit of fresh blood came in and they were embraced,” McIlroy said. “We know the future of this team is Bob MacIntrye, Ludvig Aberg and Nicolai Hojgaard. “Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm are going to be leaders of the team for a long time so it was a bit of a changing of the guard this year but the new guys were embraced by the group that were here already. There was one eye on this week but also one on the future of this team and I just hope I can play a few more alongside them.” Team Europe looks very different from 2021 (Image: Getty)