{"id":114397,"date":"2025-09-02T14:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114397\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T14:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:29:09","slug":"europes-ryder-cup-team-loaded-with-familiar-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114397\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup team loaded with familiar names"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Captain Jon Rahm, of Legion XIII, hits from the second tee during the semi-finals of LIV Golf Team Championship Michigan at The Cardinal at Saint John’s last month in Plymouth, Mich.Scott Taetsch\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

European captain Luke Donald is bringing the same 12 faces \u2014 one different name \u2014 to the Ryder Cup with hopes of creating a new experience while getting the same outcome as when they dismantled the Americans two years ago in Rome.<\/p>\n

Donald filled out the rest of his 12-man team Monday with six captain\u2019s picks, all of whom contributed to a resounding victory at Marco Simone in 2023.<\/p>\n

There were no surprises. Donald asked Matt Fitzpatrick to play the last two weeks at the British Masters and European Masters, and he obliged by delivering a pair of top-six finishes. The former U.S. Open champion was the final pick Donald announced.<\/p>\n

The other choices were Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland and Ludvig \u00c5berg. It\u2019s the first time Europe has returned 11 of the 12 players from a previous Ryder Cup team.<\/p>\n

The exception was Rasmus H\u00f8jgaard of Denmark, who qualified for the team in the final week. His identical twin, Nicolai, played on the team in Rome.<\/p>\n

The Ryder Cup has been increasingly difficult to win on the road \u2014 Europe\u2019s only victory on U.S. soil required the greatest comeback by a visiting team in 2012 at Medinah \u2014 and it figures to be especially difficult at Bethpage Black in New York, renowned for its hostile crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we have a lot of continuity, this is a different animal,\u201d Donald said. \u201cWe understand how difficult it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The matches are Sept. 26-28. Europe has a 12-9-1 record against the Americans dating to 1979, when continental Europe was added to what previously had been only Britain and Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re sitting in New York on the Sunday night with the Ryder Cup in our team room, I\u2019ll be a very happy man,\u201d said Lowry, one of five Europeans without a win this year.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Rasmus H\u00f8jgaard of Denmark is the lone rookie on this edition of Europe’s Ryder Cup squad. With the event held in New York, captain Luke Donald opted for a more experienced team, which will play in a hostile environment.Stuart Franklin\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

H\u00f8jgaard is the only Ryder Cup rookie for Europe, its fewest since Nicolas Colsaerts was the sole rookie at Medinah in 2012. That was by design, as it\u2019s far easier to bring in a newcomer before a home crowd. Europe had four rookies at Marco Simone.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to understand who you are playing against, what course you\u2019re playing and what the environment is going to be like,\u201d Donald said. \u201cUnderstanding all of that had a big factor in choosing the guys I did. They understand they can go head-to-head. I think they feel like they can compete with these guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was significant in my thinking why they deserved to be on that team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other five players who automatically qualified were Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton.<\/p>\n

Among those under consideration were Marco Penge with his two European tour titles this season and Matt Wallace, a runner-up at the European Masters on Sunday. He finished 12th in the standings and broke down while talking about his desire to play on the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called him 10 to 15 minutes after that emotional interview he did and I felt very emotional for him,\u201d Donald said. \u201cIt shows to me what the Ryder cup means to these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the team is nearly the same, Donald said this will be a new Ryder Cup for Europe that could feature different partnerships and other \u201ctechniques\u201d to prepare for a road game. Most of his players will be at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth next week, and he plans a trip to Bethpage Black before Ryder Cup week.<\/p>\n

All six of Donald\u2019s captains picks were made available on a virtual call, all with big smiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the greatest days of our lives,\u201d Donald said. \u201cWe unbelievably enjoy the Ryder Cup. As fun and as good as Rome was, I want to make this an even better experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sticking to the rankings<\/p>\n

Lowry, Straka, \u00c5berg, Hovland and Fitzpatrick placed No. 7-11 on Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup rankings. Rahm, a two-time major champion who now plays on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League, is playing in his fourth straight Ryder Cup, but this was the first time he needed a captain\u2019s pick.<\/p>\n

Rahm did not win on LIV Golf this year, but his consistency allowed him to win the individual title for the second straight year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019re playing in the U.S., we\u2019re always going to be the underdog,\u201d Rahm said.<\/p>\n

U.S. team already announced<\/p>\n

Bradley announced his picks last week<\/a> and the big news was that they didn\u2019t include himself.<\/p>\n

Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young, Ben Griffin, Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay were picked to join Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau, J.J. Spaun and Russell Henley on the team.<\/p>\n

The Americans will have four rookies: Spaun, Henley, Young and Griffin. This is the third straight Ryder Cup when the U.S. team has had at least four newcomers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Captain Jon Rahm, of Legion XIII, hits from the second tee during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,622,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-114397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-golf","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}