Luke Donald is the toast of Europe’s Ryder Cup side after masterminding a 16½-11½ win over USA.
Europe have the trophy back after a 19-9 thumping at Whistling Straits previously. Now thoughts have already turned to Bethpage Black hosting the next event in 2025 back across the Atlantic.
And Donald’s team have certainly made their feelings clear about who should lead Europe after Shane Lowry started a chant of: “two more years” on the podium before they lifted the trophy.
Donald , 45, only got the nod for Rome in August 2022 after Henrik Stenson was stripped of the captaincy for joining the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series but there is a growing clamour for him to remain in charge.
As Lowry started the chant of support for Donald to continue in the role for America next time around, others joined in including Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland to plead for the captain to stay on for 2025.
Donald’s prospects have also been boosted by European stalwarts like Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia effectively opting out of the DP World Tour when they joined LIV. Donald got to world No.1 as a player and won 17 professional tournaments but said captaining Europe to victory topped the lot. He reflected: “This is the best.
“This is why the Ryder Cup is so special to me and to these guys because of these moments. We play for each other and we get to share in that success together, and we get to spend this week together and we’ll share those memories forever.
“Not many people gave us a chance after Whistling Straits. We were big underdogs. We started to show some form in the last six months, and I couldn’t be happier with the team I got.”
Europe’s future hopes in the Ryder Cup were written off after the heavy defeat in America two years ago when USA looked set to dominate. But the records of the likes of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were dented in Rome as Donald’s side with rookies like Robert MacIntyre, Sepp Straka, Nicolai Hojgaard and Ludvig Aberg all made vital contributions.
Zach Johnson congratulates Luke Donald after Europe’s Ryder Cup victory at Marco Simone
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Donald added: “I think these guys…
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