PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Rory McIlroy has tasted only success in the Ryder Cup, playing on three winning European teams and posting a 6-4-4 record. His captains -- Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal and Paul McGinley -- have enjoyed mostly adulation.
So it is interesting to get McIlroy's take on the U.S. Ryder Cup plight, which has been tumultuous in recent months in the wake of a third straight defeat.
"It came as a huge shock when they announced Davis [Love III] as the next U.S. captain," McIlroy said Wednesday at the Honda Classic, where he is making his first U.S. start of 2015. "But then I'm also surprised, and I feel they're overdoing it, with the setting up of a task force and talking about all the changes they want to bring in."
When Love was announced as the captain for a second time Tuesday, the PGA of America also disclosed changes to the qualifying process, the number of at-large selections for the captain and the dates when the automatic qualifiers are decided as well as the captain's picks. An 11-member task force, including eight players and former captains, was formed in the wake of the 16½-11½ defeat to Europe at Gleneagles in September.
They also determined that the vice captains should consist of two former captains and two experienced Ryder Cup players to add continuity from Ryder Cup to Ryder Cup and create a future pool of captain candidates.
A new Ryder Cup committee has also been formed that includes Love, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.
"It's been said by a few players since we won at Gleneagles that it's not rocket science why Europe has won the last three Ryder Cups and eight of the past 10," McIlroy said. "I do get the sense the States, what with their task force and everything that came out in the announcement yesterday, that they're desperate to win back the Ryder Cup."
McIlroy strongly backed the candidacy of recently named European captain Darren Clarke, who hails from Northern Ireland just like McIlroy. Clarke and Love are good friends, and McIlroy expects an excellent Ryder Cup at Hazeltine next year -- where Love will get a second chance after a 14½-13½ defeat against Europe in 2012.
"Davis is going to be a great captain, and it was a freak we won at Medina in 2012 and it was not supposed to happen given they had a 10-6 lead," McIlroy said. "If the States had won, Davis would have been looked upon as a great captain."