Former European Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley rules out second stint - “There's a certain disconnection”
Former Ryder Cup-winning captain Paul McGinley has recently ruled out all the possibilities of leading the European team again for his second stint in the 2025 edition of the prestigious biennial event at Bethpage Black.
Back in 2015, McGinley became the first Irishman to lead the European team to secure a win against the United States team led by Tom Watson. His team won the tournament by a margin of five points, and the scorecard read 16.5–11.5.
Paul McGinley recently gave an interview to Golfweek's Adam Schupak. He shared that he had been away from the European Ryder Cup team for over 10 years now, and there was some sort of disconnection with the current players.
He was quoted by Golf Magic as saying:
"I'm 10 years away from being a captain, I'm 56 years old, there's a certain disconnection with the current crop of players."
The former captain shared that he would have loved to win an away Ryder Cup but added that it would be "greedy" to go again.
He said that a number of players were waiting behind him to lead the team and termed it "unfair" to ask for a second stint.
McGinley said:
"I think it so much more difficult away and I'd have loved to have written the away template but I thought it was greedy to go again. I knew there were a lot of guys waiting patiently behind me and I thought it would be unfair to go again."
Paul McGinley emphasized that a real test for the Ryder Cup captain was winning both the home and away editions of the prestigious biennial event.
As per some early reports, the European captaincy is expected to be retained by the 2023 edition's winning captain, Luke Donald, in 2025 Bethpage Black.
However, there are speculations that with Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, and Sergio Garcia's chances of leading the side already ruled out with them being part of the LIV Golf League, the captaincy could go to Nicolas Colsaerts or Edoardo Molinari.
Also, if Tiger Woods does not take up the captaincy mantle of the United States team at the 2025 Ryder Cup, Stewart Cink could get a nod at Bethpage Black.
Exploring Paul McGinley's team tournament records
The 56-year-old Irishman was part of four times in the prestigious biennial event.
In three of them, the 2002, 2004, and 2006 editions, he played as a player and registered an overall record of 2-2-5, earning a total of 4.5 points. In the 2014 edition, he led the team to victory in Scotland.
Paul McGinley has also been part of multiple other team tournaments. He played in the Alfred Dunhill Cup, representing Ireland in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.
He has also represented the Ireland team in the World Cup in 13 editions and won the event in the 1997 edition.