Rory McIlroy Walks Back His 'Stupid' Comments About The Ryder Cup Simply Being An 'Exhibition'

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If you had to use just one word to describe the Ryder Cup version of Rory McIlroy, 'passion' immediately comes to mind. From extremely aggressive fist pumps to screaming at the top of his lungs after a huge made putt, McIlroy has been one of the more vocal Ryder Cup'ers of his generation.

That hasn't always been the case for McIlroy, however.

Ahead of this weekend's Ryder Cup in Rome - McIlroy's seventh appearance in the biennial event - Team Europe presented him with a quote:

“It’s not that important an event for me. It’s an exhibition at the end of the day. Obviously, I’ll try my best for the team but I’m not going to go running around fist-pumping.”

READ: RORY MCILROY REVEALS HE ‘ABSOLUTELY DESPISED’ BILLY HORSCHEL, EVEN MORE SO THAN PATRICK REED

Believe it or not, those words came out of McIlroy's mouth in 2009 prior to him making his Ryder Cup debut. After now playing in six Ryder Cups, and winning four of them, he certainly doesn't see the Ryder Cup as some meaningless event.

"I said that in my naivete as a young swashbuckling lad. I now have been part of the Ryder Cup a lot and what those three quotes are couldn’t be further from the truth," McIlroy explained. "It is the purest competition in golf. To me, it doesn’t get any better than that."

It's hard to imagine McIlroy ever even had that mindset of the Ryder Cup essentially not mattering at all. Hearing his infamous quote from 2009 and then comparing that to him legitimately crying after Europe's loss in the 2021 Ryder Cup is stark, to put it mildly.

There truly is nothing like the Ryder Cup. Technically speaking, young McIlroy was right, it is just an exhibition, but an exhibition that makes grown men cry after coming up short for their countries.

Follow Mark Harris on X @ItIsMarkHarris

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.