“I personally would pay for the privilege to play in the Ryder Cup.” That’s what Rory McIlroy told BBC Sport after his standout performance at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai recently. For the Northern Irishman, the Ryder Cup is about much more than just money—it’s a matter of pride.

And now, when one speaks to McIlroy about the Ryder Cup, you can see how much it means to him. “I love being a part of it. I can’t wait to be part of many more. It’s the best. I don’t think there’s any greater privilege than to be a part of one of these teams, European or American,” he said in an interview last year.

But it would be surprising for you to know that this wasn’t the case always. For a long time, McIlroy thought of the Ryder Cup as just an exhibition. That is until he experienced it firsthand. In a documentary presented by Una Famiglia and Rolex, McIlroy shared how his perspective shifted. “Before I played in the Ryder Cup, I had said, the Ryder Cup’s an exhibition. It’ll be nice to play in, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that important to me, I think, were the exact words.”

“When I realized that what I had said was so far off the mark, it was probably when I got to Celtic Manor in 2010. I got down to the range at half-six in the morning for warm-up, and the first-team grandstand was already full, and they’re singing songs, and they’re chanting, and it’s just that atmosphere,” he said in the documentary, showing now exactly what the biennial even meant to him, and the prestige it holds in his heart. “It really struck me what the Ryder Cup was and what it meant.”

McIlroy has worn a lot of different hats in the Ryder Cup over the years. He’s been the rising rookie in 2010, the superstar-in-the-making in 2012, and the unformidable world No. 1 in 2014. In 2016, he was the heart of a losing European side, playing alongside Thomas Pieters and winning three points, then delivering one of the most iconic moments in Ryder Cup history with his ear-cupping and shouts of “I can’t hear you!” to the American crowd in his epic singles loss to Patrick Reed.

And the journey? Well, as McIlroy puts it, he started off a bit naïve: “I was probably a little naive to the whole thing. A little bit oblivious to how much it meant to everyone else. So as the years have went on, I probably gotten more nervous and more, as I’ve taken on a little bit more of a leadership role within the team.”

It’s clear that what started as a naive excitement has turned into a deep sense of responsibility for McIlroy. “I feel a responsibility that week to step up and, and, and do my thing and win points for the team. And you know, I know that I’m someone that you know. The rest of the team looks to and you know, I take that very seriously.”