McIlroy says winning Ryder Cup for Europe will be 'icing on cake' of brilliant year

Northern Irish golf ace Rory McIlroy has said on Sunday that winning next week's Ryder Cup for his Europe team would be the icing on the cake of a brilliant year.

McIlroy will head to Scotland's Gleneagles course for Europe's defence of the biennial team clash with the United States as the world's number one-ranked golfer and having won four tournaments in the last five months, including two majors -the British Open and the US PGA.

Now the Northern Irishman is going in search of his third Ryder Cup success, having helped Europe triumph in both 2010 and 2012, Sport24 reported.

McIlroy said that personally for him it would just be the icing on the cake of what's already a fantastic year, adding that it feels like everyone involved is just so passionate about it, and even the public get so much more passionate about it than the majors or individual tournaments.

So, McIlroy said that it is great to be a part of, adding that he has been a part of two winning European teams and would love to make that a third this week.

But whereas he was once the promising youngster, McIlroy is now a senior player in Europe captain Paul McGinley's team.

McIlroy said that he is going to have to be one of the leaders and be expected to lead by example, and that's a big responsibility, but added that it is the one responsibility he wants to try and handle and try and get a few points on the board early for the team.