Rory McIlroy has revealed he “shot it down straight away” when approached about the idea of becoming a playing Ryder Cup captain in the near future.

McIlroy will play a key role for Team Europe at next month’s event against the United States in New York and is aiming for an eighth triumph at one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments.

The 36-year-old, who begins his BMW Championship campaign playing alongside world number Scottie Scheffler on Thursday, will come up against an American team captained by Keegan Bradley.

Bradley currently sits 12th in the world rankings – the eighth-highest ranked American player – and hasn’t ruled out combining his captaincy duties alongside playing after winning the Travelers Championship in June.

placeholder image — Rory McIlroy has won the Ryder Cup seven times with Team Europe. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Given McIlroy’s standing in the sport, the Northern Irishman would likely be a shoo-in to take on Europe’s captaincy role if it’s something he wanted to do, but he swiftly dismissed the idea when it was put to him.

"No, I've been asked to do that, and I've turned it down,” said McIlroy. “The idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon coming up has come up, and I've shot it down straight away.”

When asked why he turned it down, McIlroy replied: “Because I don't think you can do it.

"I just think the commitments that a captain has the week of...you think about the extra media that a captain has to do, you think about the extra meetings that the captains have to do with the vice captains, with the PGA of America, in Keegan's case, preparing your speech for the opening ceremony.

"There's a lot of things that people don't see that the captain does the week of the Ryder Cup, especially now that the Ryder Cup has become so big.

“If you'd have said it 20 years ago, I'd say, yeah, it was probably possible to do, but how big of a spectacle and everything that's on the line in a Ryder Cup now, I just think it would be a very difficult position to be in. So I just think for those reasons.

“Then the captain isn't going to be on the course all day, so really the captain's only going to be able to play one session on Friday, one session on Saturday.

"Would you rather not have a player that has the flexibility to go twice if he's playing well? There's a lot of different things that go into it, and that's why I think – look, it's just my opinion, but I think it would just be very difficult to do.”