Luke Donald has had it relatively easy when it comes to making his Ryder Cup wildcard picks, but he still has a couple of big decisions to make.
Unlike counterpart Keegan Bradley, there’s been no mass hysteria about being a player-captain, while his players have been remarkably consistent over the last two years.
So much so in fact that Donald could make a slice of Ryder Cup history with his wildcard picks, and name the most settled side with the fewest changes we’ve ever seen in the competition.
At one stage Donald could even have been contemplating something truly historic in naming a totally unchanged 12 for Bethpage Black from the one that won in Rome.
Rasmus Hojgaard scuppered that line from golf writers by qualifying automatically, but the rest of Donald’s team looks so settled it’s incredible.
So I wouldn’t expect to see too many surprises when Donald announces his six picks on Monday – as although he has some interesting wildcard options this year, it just doesn’t seem the year for taking chances.
Why Europe needs most settled side in Ryder Cup history
An away Ryder Cup is tough enough as it is, playing one in the New York area will be so much tougher, and so Europe will need all of their famed togetherness and team spirit to pull off a huge victory.
The way qualifying has worked out really helps Donald here, as the players finishing in seventh to 11th in the standings were all part of the 2023 team in Rome.
Throw in the no-brainer of picking Jon Rahm, and that could very likely be Donald’s 12-man team for Bethpage – 11 of the same players as Rome with the only change being Rasmus Hojgaard playing in place of his brother Nicolai.
And making just one change would be a record for the Ryder Cup, with the previous fewest being three changes made by any side between one tournament and the next.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
There are options of course, Harry Hall has played brilliantly on the PGA Tour, Marco Penge has made a late run in Europe, Matt Wallace finished 12th in qualifying and Thomas Detry won the WM Phoenix Open.
But none of them have played in a Ryder Cup before. Could one or more of them handle it? Quite possibly, but it’s a risk that I don’t think Donald will take.
So I fully expect him to read out the names of Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Sepp…
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