Luke Donald has been confirmed as the new European Ryder Cup captain, but with just over 12 months before Europe take on the USA at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, how are things shaping up on both sides?
Europe are looking to bounce back from a record defeat at Whistling Straits in 2021, when Steve Stricker’s USA thrashed Padraig Harrington’s Europe 19-9, extending the USA’s lead in the biennial clash to 27-14. Team Europe’s preparations were thrown into turmoil when Henrik Stenson was removed as captain ahead of his defection to LIV Golf, a move that started with a $4.375million payday and Stenson aiming a jibe at that decision to remove him after his debut victory at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.
Team Europe
Captain – Luke Donald
Luke Donald was named as Stenson’s successor ahead of the likes of Paul Lawrie, Robert Karlsson and Thomas Bjorn. The former World No.1 won all four Ryder Cups he played in, and has acted as vice captain at the last two matches in 2018 under Bjorn and in 2021 under Harrington.
Donald has already promised that he won’t be doing “a Henrik” and leaving for LIV Golf, but with question marks still hanging over the availability of the LIV players, Donald takes up the position not knowing whether he will be able to call on the likes of record points scorer Sergio Garcia, joint record appearance maker Lee Westwood, as well as the likes of Ian Poulter, Paul Casey among others.
As long as no more players leave though, he will have younger stars like Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick, who are all currently ranked in the world’s top 10, as the backbone of his team.
Vice Captain – Thomas Bjorn
Donald’s first move as Europe’s new Ryder Cup captain was to confirm Thomas Bjorn and Edoardo Molinari remain as vice captains. Bjorn was thought to be favourite to take over once Stenson had been removed as captain, given it was a job he’d done so successfully before. However, with Donald in the top job, Bjorn’s wealth of experience will be put to use as a vice captain.
The Dane has been…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly RSS Feed…