SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France -- Rory McIlroy said the Ryder Cup is the best tournament in golf, but after a spectacular final day of the men's Olympic tournament -- in which many of the sport's biggest names battled atop the leaderboard -- he thinks the Olympics "has the potential to be right up there with it."
McIlroy said golf needed the Olympics and called the four days at Le Golf National in the Parisian suburbs one of the "best individual competitions I've been a part of."
"With how much of a s--- show the game of golf is right now, you think of tournaments that might be the purest form of competition of the sport, not playing for money," McIlroy said on Sunday after a fifth-place finish representing Ireland. "So it speaks volumes for what is important in sport."
McIlroy has been an outspoken opponent of the LIV Golf League, which disrupted the status quo when it began plucking PGA Tour players in 2022. Seven LIV players competed in the Olympics, including Spain's Jon Rahm -- who stumbled out of medal contention on Sunday with a poor back nine.
But the 35-year-old McIlroy said the drama at the Olympics was all about the sport itself. Golf returned to the Olympics for the 2016 Rio Games after a 112-year absence. That momentum was slowed for the 2021 Games in Tokyo, which were severely implicated by the COVID-19 pandemic as many top players opted out.
The 2024 Paris roster was loaded. And on the final day, Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Hideki Matsuyama, Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim and McIlroy were all in contention, with Scheffler winning it all thanks to a final-round 62. Fleetwood won silver for Great Britain, one stroke behind. Frenchman Victor Perez had a massive final day -- going minus-8 -- to springboard into contention. Perez finished one shot shy of the podium.
"Even standing on the 16th tee, and watching 18, and seeing Victor Perez come up 18 and all the excitement of the French crowd," McIlroy said. "We don't get that any other place that we play, maybe apart from the Ryder Cup. So I just loved the incredible atmosphere and environment to play in."
The four-time major champion said he believed a typical 72-hole format was the best way to determine a winner but was also open to expanding the Olympics.
"If they wanted to do a two-day, team type of competition and play for six days, I'd be all for that," McIlroy said.
On Sunday, McIlroy had a streak of five birdies in his final nine before hitting a wedge shot into the water on 15, which he said cost him a medal.
"I feel like I've been golfing nearly well the last three years, so I obviously want the tides to turn to to go from nearly to where I'm back to winning golf tournaments," said McIlroy. "It's all well and good saying, 'I'm close, I'm close, I'm close,' but once I actually step through the threshold and turn these close misses and close calls into wins, that's when I'll be happy."
McIlroy said it was his first Olympics where it "felt like an Olympic games," given the immense COVID-19 protocols in Tokyo.
He maintained that his favorite event is equestrian dressage, saying, "I just think it's amazing how they get those horses to do that." McIlroy said he was able to go to Roland Garros for tennis one night and will stay in Paris for a few days to soak up the Olympic experience, and he intends on attending track and field and gymnastics.
The Olympics brought heightened stakes for players representing their countries. The 22-year-old Kim was visibly emotional after Sunday's tournament, wiping away tears at times when talking to the media. With an Olympic medal, Kim would've been granted an exemption for mandatory military service.
He finished in eighth place, four strokes back from bronze after posting a 68 in the final round. Kim declined to comment on the topic -- as he had all week -- but said the Olympics held extra weight.
"This week has been such an A-list event for me, I really wanted to win for my country," Kim said. "The Olympics, it's different. You don't really get a chance to represent your country, this is every four years. I'm going to be a lot older the next time we play, so you don't want to miss these opportunities."