Rory McIlroy has a hunch about the Ryder Cup, and it’s one that golf fans around the world aren’t going to like.
Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits is scheduled to host the 2020 Ryder Cup Sept. 25-27, but amid the coronavirus pandemic the event would most-likely take place without fans (if held at all).
In an interview with BBC Sport, the world No. 1 said: “My personal hunch is that I don’t see how it is going to happen, so I do not think that it will happen.”
“I think the majority of players would like to see it pushed back until 2021 so that they can play in front of crowds and have the atmosphere that makes the Ryder Cup so special,” explained McIlroy. “The players are the ones that make the Ryder Cup. If they are not on board with it and don’t want to play then there is no Ryder Cup.”
The 18-time PGA Tour winner and four-time major champion has some experience playing without fans after participating in TaylorMade Driving Relief, a charity skins match for coronavirus relief. McIlroy and Dustin Johnson took down Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff at the famed Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida.
Said McIlroy in a previous interview last month: “A Ryder Cup without fans is not a Ryder Cup.”
