Rory McIlroy "would love" to be Ryder Cup captain at some point but "hopefully not in 2027" as he prepares for this week's DP World India Championship.
McIlroy will be making his first appearance since .
The 36-year-old headlines a strong field for the , including fellow Ryder Cup heroes Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Victor Hovland, and captain Luke Donald.
"I would love to be the European captain at some point," McIIroy said. "But that will be beyond my playing days, or at least when my playing days are coming to an end and I'm not good enough to make the team or I make way for the new generation to come along.
"Hopefully that's not in 2027! Hopefully I'm still good enough to play and put points on the board for Europe.
"I would love to be a captain one day, and I feel very fortunate that I've had a front-row seat playing under some of the best captains in history in the Ryder Cup.
"What Luke Donald has done the last two Ryder Cups has revolutionised the captaincy within Europe. And I feel Paul McGinley in Gleneagles in 2014, he was a wonderful captain and I learned a lot from him. And there's been wonderful captains between them, as well. All of them have been wonderful.
"The time and the effort and the dedication that Luke Donald has put into the last four years, it's been absolutely amazing. He has 100 per cent respect of the entire team and everyone that's worked for him and all be behind him. If I can be nearly as good as a captain as Luke Donald, I'll have done a good job.
"So hopefully one day in the future, but I'd say not until the mid-2030s, hopefully, if I can keep playing well."
McIlroy is hot favourite to win the Race to Dubai for the fourth year in a row, with three tournaments left before the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
With 835 points available to the winner of each tournament - McIlroy leads the rankings with 4084.56 points, ahead of Marco Penge with 3691.24 points and Tyrrell Hatton with 2866.08 points.
"Marco's had a fantastic year, I think everyone's so happy to see how well he's played," reflected McIlroy.
"Thinking about him having a putt to make the cut in Korea last year to keep his card, to what he's done this year. It's great to see, but I'm liking that he's pushing me, it gives me a real incentive to show up this week and give it 100 per cent and try to nudge ahead a little bit that lead going into the Middle East for the last couple of events of the year.
"Every week counts. This is a big week to try to just give myself that little bit of cushion but it's going to be a nice race to the the finish and I'm excited to be part of it."
Donald hopes to be involved in the next Ryder Cup in some capacity, while he feels McIlroy's "passion" will help him succeed as a captain down the line.
The 46-year-old said when asked if he will lead Team Europe in County Limerick: "I'm trying to still enjoy this one!
"If I'm not a captain in two years' time and the captain wants me to be there, then I'm sure I would be happy to help him in any way he wanted."
On McIlroy, who accrued 3.5 points for Team Europe in New York while facing heavy verbal abuse from a section of the home crowd, Donald added: "He loves the Ryder Cup more than anything.
"He made it quite evident that winning an away Ryder Cup would really be the icing on an amazing year that he had [in winning The Masters for the career Grand Slam].
"He loves what it represents. You've seen the emotion from losing to winning. Anyone that has that passion for a Ryder Cup I think would make a good captain."
The field also boasts American major winner Brian Harman, and his compatriot and two-time PGA Tour winner Ben Griffin, who made his Ryder Cup debut in New York this year.
Shane Lowry speaking to SportNews about his crucial putt to retain the Ryder Cup:
"For me to be able to hole that putt at such a crucial moment is very, very special and something I'll have forever. And something I'll be able to dive back into my locker for at some stage when I need it.
"When things are maybe not going my way, or whenever I putt to win a tournament or something, hopefully I'll be able to use that down the line, because I'm not sure I'll ever feel pressure like that again.
"I've been in tough situations in my career, but nothing ever close to that. I honestly can't help but think back on what would have happened if I missed a putt. I would have felt like I let my team-mates down.
"You can let yourself down, no problem. You can deal with that. But you let your team-mates down, let those guys down who worked really hard for you that week and won all those points, it would have been very, very difficult for me.
"So thankfully I didn't. Thankfully I stood up to the plate. As soon as he [Russell Henley] missed his putt, I was in my routine. I do remember everything happening quite quickly, and I tried to slow myself down and tried to work on my breathing a little bit.
"Then when I stood over it, I was like: 'You have no choice but to hit it now'. I think the celebration was just pure relief. I didn't know what to do with myself.
"It's just the most special tournament in the world, honestly it is. I'm just so happy to be a part of it, in any way at all. Thankfully I played a decent part in it this year."
Tommy Fleetwood speaking to SportNews about Europe's stunning Ryder Cup victory in the USA:
"It was such a special week. I'm so lucky to have played a few Ryder Cups now, and I just feel like all of them bring their unique memories from each of those weeks, and this one was so special again.
"It was an amazing story for us that we had so many of us from Rome that came to this one, and just the connection that we all had, the team environment, and then being able to win an away Ryder Cup, how hard and how difficult it is, to be part of that team is something I'm very proud of.
"I really am so interested individually to try and tap into so much of the stuff that we do that one week every two years, and I think our team chemistry, the legacy of Team Europe, and how much that's drilled into us.
"The bond you have, the drive and the motivation to be playing for something much bigger than yourself, and it makes you want to be the absolute best version of yourself.
"Like I said, I've been so lucky to have played four now, and once you've played one, you never want to not play one.
"We all know that that time will come eventually where we're not on the golf course representing Europe, so the times that we do have it, we just have immense pride in carrying that legacy, which has been going for a long time and will go on for much longer."
Watch the DP World India Championship live on SportNews from Thursday to Sunday. Coverage of day one begins at 7.30am on SportNews Golf and SportNews Main Event.
