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Ryder Cup 2016 exclusive: No Poulter is a blow, but resurgent McIlroy key for Europe - McGinley

In his first exclusive column, Ryder Cup winning captain Paul McGinley says a resurgent Rory McIlroy will be key for Europe during this week's tournament

Ryder Cup 2016 exclusive: No Poulter is a blow, but resurgent McIlroy key for Europe - McGinley

Paul McGinley captained Europe to a famous victory at the Ryder Cup in Gleneagles two years ago and ahead of the start of the 2016 event at Hazeltine National this weekend, the Irishman has penned some columns for Yahoo Sport.

His first focuses on the role of a resurgent Rory McIlroy in the European team after his dramatic victory in the PGA Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup race last weekend.

Rory McIlroy is still way ahead of the curve in terms of major championships won at his age and it is important not to under-estimate how what he has already achieved in his career.

Dominating any sport is tough, but we have already seen Rory show signs to suggest he can do that in the four majors he has won.

When he gets it all together, there is no one better to watch in the game and his challenge is getting it together consistently when it matters most in the four major tournaments each year.

He has had a quiet time in the majors over the last couple of years, but his win at the Deutsche Bank Championship was hugely significant for him and he has now kicked on from there to win the Tour Championship.

There is a lot of great golf still to come from McIlroy and we need to remember that this is a guy who is still young in golfing terms. He has a lot of years ahead of him to win plenty more majors and I have no doubts he will achieve that.

The wonderful news for Europe is that Rory is taking wonderful form into the Ryder Cup and I see him playing a leadership role in this team.

Europe players Jamie Donaldson, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Justin Rose pour champagne over captain Paul McGinley as they celebrate winning the 2014 Ryder Cup golf tournament at Gleneagles, Scotland.
Europe players Jamie Donaldson, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Justin Rose pour champagne over captain Paul McGinley as they celebrate winning the 2014 Ryder Cup golf tournament at Gleneagles, Scotland.

Ian Poulter is a vice-captain and not a player in the European team this time and he has been very much the guy who has led from the front in the last few Ryder Cups, the driving force in the team in recent years.

What we have is a collection of players who can fill that role in his absence. You don’t need to be a fist pumper to be remembered as a great Ryder Cup player and I use the example of someone like Bernhard Langer and it shows you do not need to be a loud presence on the course to have a great record. The same goes for Nick Faldo, who was another great Ryder Cup player.

Then you look at Seve Ballesteros, who was very much in the Poulter mould of being a personality on the course and maybe now I would look at Danny Willett or Andy Sullivan to be stand-out characters on the European team at Hazeltine.

However, leaders shine in different ways and it can be a quiet guy who will emerge as the star of the team this time. What I realised as captain is that there is no one way of being a vital member of a team in this event and everyone has to bring their own character to the task in hand.

Martin Kaymer, for example, is a very different character to Ian Poulter, but he contributes so much to the team in a different way, with his calmness shining through when the pressure is on.

I would like to think Rory can be a leader as well. He has been in a few Ryder Cups now, he has experienced the pressure of being the top player in the European team and he has handled the pressure of the Americans targeting him.

He will have to deal with pressure again as the highest ranked player in the European team and I’m looking forward to seeing what role he is asked to play in the team by European captain Darren Clarke.

My view on where to place players like Rory in the line-up went something like this; I wanted to put my rookies with experienced players - but that is not the only way to go.

In the last Ryder Cup, we saw American captain Tom Watson put Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth together, which proved to be a hugely successful partnership, despite their lack of Ryder Cup experience.

The fact that we have got six rookies in the European team means it would not necessarily be a bad strategy for Darren to put two of the together this time. In many ways, his hands are tied by the number of new faces he has to work with this time, but I would not worry about Europe’s rookies.

When I played my first Ryder Cup, I was so raw compared to the guys we have going into battle at Hazeltine. All these guys have won big tournaments and performed well in major championships, so I don’t think they will be afraid or let any of us down.

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