{"id":466526,"date":"2026-03-09T20:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/466526\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:21:09","slug":"luke-donalds-in-now-ryder-cup-europe-face-a-huge-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/466526\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Donald’s in \u2013 now Ryder Cup Europe face a huge dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tForget Adare Manor. Forget history. Ryder Cup Europe have a hell of a decision to make\u2026<\/p>\n

Before I type these next few hundred words, let me preface them by saying Luke Donald absolutely earned the right to take the Ryder Cup captaincy for a third time, and he absolutely is the right man to lead the team out at Adare Manor.<\/p>\n

Why would he turn down the chance to become the first captain to win three in a row? And why would he turn down the chance to captain in the 100th anniversary match?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate to do this two times,\u201d the Englishman told a small gathering of reporters<\/a> after what ended up being a rather lowkey announcement. \u201cTo do it a third time is really, really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of high-profile members of Donald\u2019s teams in Italy and New York \u2013 notably Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry \u2013 have been vocal in their support of a third term. Indeed, it was this trio who led a chant of \u201cTwo more years!\u201d following the 15-13 success at Bethpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have the backing of not only my family but the players meant a lot,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

It certainly made sense. Justin Rose wants to pull on the blue and gold at least once more, and credited Donald\u2019s work ethic when dismissing the idea of being a playing captain<\/a> at Adare.<\/p>\n

Francesco Molinari \u2013 an experienced Ryder Cup player and a vice-captain under Donald on both occasions \u2013 was the other option. The Italian had the backing<\/a> of some of the players, too, but even he wanted Donald to go again<\/a>. Another name floated was the older Molinari, Edoardo, but he\u2019s quite happy being the team\u2019s numbers man<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll have that conversation again in the months following the outcome of the 46th matches, which is when Ryder Cup Europe will face a huge dilemma.<\/p>\n

Of course, choosing a captain is something the selection committee confronts every two years. But this time it will feel different.<\/p>\n

While nothing was ever officially put in place by the powers that be, since Donald came in it\u2019s generally been the school of thought that each European Ryder Cup captain should be on a four-year cycle. Paul McGinley, the victorious captain of 2014, told Golfweek<\/a>: \u201cIn an ideal world, you should do two captaincies \u2013 one home and one away. That would be the real test of a captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sentiment also acknowledged by Donald himself. \u201cIf someone\u2019s going to do one, they should probably do two,\u201d he told reporters as the dust settled on Bethpage.<\/p>\n

Like this article? See more TG content in your feed!\u00a0Click here<\/a>\u00a0to add Today\u2019s Golfer as a preferred source on Google.<\/p>\n

Donald opting for a third Ryder Cup leaves three possible scenarios for Hazeltine in three years\u2019 time. Let\u2019s briefly break them down one by one\u2026<\/p>\n

1. Donald stays on for 2029<\/p>\n

If Europe win at Adare Manor<\/a>, Donald will almost certainly walk away. There is simply no reason for him to tarnish his record. If they lose, who knows? I guess that\u2019s next year\u2019s problem. But lose again in \u201929 and suddenly a 2-0 record turns into 2-2 and your legacy goes remarkably quickly from one of the best ever to what might have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegacy is a strange word,\u201d Donald mused. \u201cIt\u2019s a label put on by other people. My hope is that, once my time is done, I\u2019ll have the captaincy in a place to give the future teams a better opportunity for success down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took him so long to decide to go a third time, the chances of a fourth are next to none.<\/p>\n

2. A captain with experience comes in for 2029<\/p>\n

It makes sense when you write it down like that. But who do Ryder Cup Europe turn to? <\/p>\n

Thomas Bjorn and Jose Maria Olazabal are the only past captains who have been part of Team Europe\u2019s Luke Donald era \u2013 and of those two you can only really imagine the Dane would fancy a shot at it.<\/p>\n

Which leaves us with\u2026<\/p>\n

3. A first-time captain begins with an away Ryder Cup<\/p>\n

What a terrifying prospect. Even some of the finest Ryder Cup players and multiple major champions this continent has ever produced couldn\u2019t get their head around it. <\/p>\n

Padraig Harrington at Whistling Straits? Dreadful. Darren Clarke at Hazeltine? Dreadful. Jose Maria Olazabal? Dreadful for two days then his players pulled off a comeback so unlikely they literally named it the \u2018Miracle at Medinah\u2019. Nick Faldo? What\u2019s one cog below dreadful? And even the cynics among you will say Bernhard Langer came up against one of the worst US teams ever assembled.<\/p>\n

(By the way, it\u2019s not just the Europeans that have this problem. In the last 20 years alone USA have had Zach Johnson in Rome, Jim Furyk in Paris, and Tom Lehman in Ireland. You guessed it \u2013 all dreadful.)<\/p>\n

So it would be quite the hospital pass to throw anyone.<\/p>\n

\"Ryder<\/p>\n

When TG put the conundrum to Ryder Cup Europe and DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings, who was sitting alongside Donald for his press conference, he saw if off with expert prevarication.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe job is to try and make sure you select the best captain for the upcoming match, which we have done in this case,\u201d he said. \u201cAll we\u2019ll do each time is weigh out the merits of who will be considered and try to get the right man for the right time. We have the right man for Adare in 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Rose is sensible, he\u2019ll want to get a stint as vice-captain under his belt before taking the top job for 2031 and \u201933. Which leaves Molinari with the option to take on an away Ryder Cup or risk never getting the role he described as<\/a> one you \u201cdon\u2019t turn down if you get asked\u201d. <\/p>\n

And we haven\u2019t even got to the LIV Golf guys yet. But they\u2019ve been so far removed from the process that it would feel like handing the USA an added boost they rarely require on home soil.<\/p>\n

This is why Kinnings and co get paid the big bucks and we just get to speculate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forget Adare Manor. Forget history. Ryder Cup Europe have a hell of a decision to make\u2026 Before I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-466526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}