Rory Ryder Cup Shock: "It's not a huge goal of mine."

Seems our little angel of Irish golfing greatness hasn't watched Bull Durham. I'll paraphrase the great Crash Davis for you Rory McIlroy: "You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends."

Cliché No. 1 if you are a European professional: I love the Ryder Cup. It's my top goal. It's more important than anything else in my career.

From Rory's press conference Wednesday at the Irish Open:

Q. And on The Ryder Cup points, I know it's a long way away yet, but how focused are you on making sure that the Ryder Cup becomes pretty much a very important part of your career?

RORY McILROY: You know, if you play well enough, you're going to get on the team. That's the simple fact. But it's not a huge goal of mine. If I'm struggling to get on the team, I'm not going to play two more events to try -- if I play well enough, I play well enough, and if I don't, then so be it.

In The Ryder Cup, it's a great spectacle for golf, but an exhibition at the end of the day and it should be there to be enjoyed. I think if I get on it, you know, you enjoy the week, and if you win or lose, it's a great experience and you move on from it. In the big scheme of things, it's not that important of an event for me.

Q. Is that because your goals are set beyond Ryder Cups, so naturally, if you reach those goals, you'll be on The Ryder Cup Team?

RORY McILROY: Exactly. You know, golf is an individual sport at the end of the day. And you have individual goals, and my individual goals are to win tournaments for myself. And if I do that, then I know that I'll have played good enough to get on to the team.
So if you can take care of your own results, then you know, the selection process or if you qualify for it, basically if you play well enough, you'll get on.

And, after some rally kill attempts...

Q. A lot of players would say the most pressure they ever felt in golf was The Ryder Cup, including some who thought beforehand it was an exhibition; do you think it might suddenly hit you when you get in the team that it's a bit more than that?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I don't think that -- I don't feel as if it is. It's an exhibition and it should be played in the right spirit and obviously everyone wants to win. But you know, it's a great week for golf. I think that's what it should be treated as.

Like I said before, if I can get on the team by my own merit and lucky enough to be there, I'll relish every moment of it. Obviously I'll try my best for the team. But you know, I'm not going to go running around fist-pumping.

Rory, I have David Duval on line one

So, the reaction?

Peter Dixon in the Times:

Much of what McIlroy had to say can be put down to the honesty of youth. He has performed remarkably well to get inside the world's top 20 and is right to be looking towards a career in which the winning of major championships will take priority.

Bill Elliott in the Guardian:

What remains interesting, however, is that McIlroy's summation of the European Tour's most important cash cow coincides almost exactly with what Tiger Woods thinks of the whole shebang. Hardly surprising, given that Wee Mac has followed Woods' philosophy as only a young, besotted lad can.

Kark McGinty in the Belfast Telegraph talks to new Hall of Famer Christy O'Connor:

O’Connor Senior smiled benignly at the youngster’s words. “He’ll find it’s not an exhibition match when he starts playing it.

“The Ryder Cup is golf. It is match play. It is top professional versus top professional. It is very exciting and a great proud-puller,” added Senior.

“Rory’s just a kid. I think Rory’s in for a pleasant surprise when he plays the Ryder Cup.”

Wait, there's more. Rory is playing with Captain Monty the first two rounds. Monty says not to read too much into the comments, reports Phillip Reid in a loving defense of the Irishman.

Colin Montgomerie, who will captain the European team at Celtic Manor in Wales next year as they seek to wrest the trophy back from American hands, and who has been grouped with McIlroy for the first two rounds of the Irish Open here, allowed himself a fatherly smile and a “he’ll learn” glint when asked what he thought of the young Irishman’s comments.

“The Ryder Cup is not an exhibition . . . please don’t start a war against Rory McIlroy. He’s a very exciting young player and he’s one of Europe’s best young talents that we’ve had for many, many a year. Right? All I can say to you is, the Ryder Cup is not an exhibition, all right? Please don’t say Monty and Rory are having a war here . . . all I’ve said is the Ryder Cup is not an exhibition and it never will be.”