Luke Donald will have a chance to become the first European Ryder Cup captain to lead his team to three consecutive victories.
The DP World Tour announced Wednesday that the 48-year-old Englishman will captain the European squad next year at Adare Manor in Ireland. This comes on the heels of Donald guiding his team to victory in Rome (2023) and last fall at Bethpage (2025).
“The last two Ryder Cups have meant a lot to me and my family. I didn’t imagine this third time would come. Celebrating on that Sunday night in New York after a pressure packed week in a tough environment, I thought maybe my job was done. But maybe there is a little more story to tell,” Donald said in a statement.
With Donald at the helm once again, the Europeans figure to be overwhelming favorites next year.
Donald is the fourth player to captain the European team in three or more consecutive Ryder Cups. Dai Rees (1955, ’57, 159, ’61, ’67), Tony Jacklin (’83, ’85, ’87, ’89) and Bernard Gallacher (’91, ’93, ’95) were the previous three. Jacklin won the 1985 and 1987 Ryder Cups before his team tied the 1989 match.
Counting his time as a player, Donald will be going for a seventh victorious Ryder Cup.
“I think it’s obviously a huge advantage for the European team to have that continuity and that consistency. I was sort of banging on that drum going into Bethpage. And we’ll have it even more so again,” Rory McIlroy said at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “It’s wonderful to have Luke back. There’s not one player or one person behind the scenes that helps with Ryder Cup Europe that isn’t thrilled that Luke agreed to come back and do it again.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. side is in limbo. Tiger Woods said he has been asked to captain the U.S. team but he remains focused on helping the PGA Tour through schedule changes.
“[The PGA of America] have asked me for my input on it, and I haven’t made my decision yet,” Woods said at the Genesis Invitational. “I’m trying to figure out what we’re trying to do with our tour. That’s been driving me hours upon hours every day and trying to figure out if I can actually do our team, our Team USA and our players and everyone that’s going to be involved in the Ryder Cup, if I can do it justice with my time. Serving on two boards and what I’m doing for the PGA Tour, I’m trying to figure out if I can actually do this and serve the people that are involved and serve them at an honorable level.”
Sean’s take
If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
LIV took away many of the European captaincy options but why would they want someone like Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood or Sergio Garcia anyway?
Hell, they should let Donald keep the role as long as they are winning and he is willing.
It’s likely the latter will happen before the former. Captaining a Ryder Cup team is a lot of work.
Donald has been meticulous and brilliant in the captaincy role, pushing all the right buttons for captain’s picks and pairings.
It’s in direct contrast to the American side, which is a total shitshow. We had Keegan Bradley, who was out of his depth, putting together Harris English and Collin Morikawa—which analytics said was the worst possible team—and then doubling down on it. That’s not even mentioning how he botched the course setup.
Now the PGA of America is taking a wild swing with Tiger.
What do we know about Tiger as a captain? He won a Presidents Cup as a playing captain, but it was his performance as a player that cemented victory.
Maybe he would be a great captain. It’s hard to say.
All we know is that the U.S. side has virtually no plan. The Europeans take the match seriously and are dominant because of it.
I highly doubt that will change in Ireland. Pencil in another European victory.
Top Photo Caption: Team Europe is running it back with Luke Donald. (GETTY IMAGES/Rich Storry)
Sean
4 months ago
Woods isn’t a team player and alongside Mickelson is one of the worst US players in Ryder Cup history. What possible reason would anyone think he would be a good Ryder Cup captain?
Woods isn’t bright enough, nor does he care enough to do this job properly.