Now his current captain, Luke Donald, has admitted McIlroy learnt the hard way about his naive views. Speaking at the special Year to go press conference in New York on Tuesday, the Englishman, who also played in the 2010 version, smiled when asked to recall McIlroy’s comments.

Rory McIlroy has become a key figure in the European Ryder Cup team, despite initially dismissing the importance of the event to his career

Rory McIlroy has become a key part of the European Ryder Cup team in recent years, and this has been highlighted back captain Luke Donald with a year to go until the 2025 event

Rory McIlroy has become one of the key figures of the Ryder Cup, despite being a sceptic of the event earlier in his career, according to former European captain Luke Donald