Rory McIlroy Shades Team USA Ahead Of Olympic Golf Tournament

Rory McIlroy hasn’t won a major in a decade, but he’ll try to add a gold medal to his trophy case this week when the Olympics golf tournament begins.

McIlroy is a Northern Ireland native, allowing him to represent either Ireland or Great Britain at the Summer Games. He’ll represent the Irish flag this week at Le Golf National, a course McIlroy should feel comfortable on.

McIlroy played five matches at the 2018 Ryder Cup decided on Le Golf National. McIlroy went 2-3-0 that week, as the Europeans cruised to a 17 1/2-10 1/2 win. The Euros took full advantage of getting to set up the course that week, growing up the rough to combat an American team that just wanted to bomb and gouge. At a press conference Tuesday ahead of the Olympic tournament, McIlroy and Shane Lowry were asked whether the rough is as thick as it was for the Ryder Cup.

“Ask the Americans. I wasn’t in it much that week,” McIlroy told reporters, as transcribed by the IGF.

It’s certainly a good line. But it’ll have to be a rather broad “ask the Americans,” as none of the Team USA players this week — Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark — played in that 2018 Ryder Cup. But hey, good trash talk is good trash talk.

Speaking of trash talk, if the Americans wanted to, they could retort by reminding McIlroy all four of them have won majors since McIlroy last won his, gobbling up seven of golf’s biggest trophies among the four of them in the last four years.

If the betting odds are any indication, there’s a good chance one of the five will be atop the podium by the weekend’s end. Scheffler is a +350 favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook followed by Schauffele (+550), McIlroy (+750) and Morikawa (+1000). Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion who has struggled this season on the PGA Tour, is a 70-1 long shot.

Safe to say there will be some bragging rights and not just the gold medal on the line this week in Paris.