So now the countdown can begin in earnest. It is exactly a year to go until the first tee shot of the 2027 Ryder Cup will be struck at Adare Manor in Co Limerick in the 46th edition of the biennial match. And Luke Donald – in his role as captain – will seek to lead his Europe team to a historic third straight win in the encounter with the United States.
The last time Europe completed a three-in-a-row of victories was at Gleneagles in 2014 when Paul McGinley was the captain, following on from 2012 at Medinah (when José María Olazábal was captain) and the 2010 win at Celtic Manor (when Colin Montgomerie was captain).
Donald, though, is looking to captain a winning team for a hat-trick: he was, by virtue of a perfect storm, the accidental captain at Marco Simone in Rome in 2023 when the Englishman was drafted in to replace Henrik Stenson, who moved to LIV. Donald did such a good job that player power persuaded him to go for a second term at Bethpage in New York last year.
Again, the demand from the team room convinced him to go for a third term in Adare.
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An insight into his own view of captaincy perhaps best explains why the players – to a man – made such a push to keep him in the hot seat.
As Donald – a Rolex Testimonee for much of his career – put it: “What’s obviously pretty unique about this role as captain is we play a sport that’s individual 99 per cent of the time. And then we have these big team events like the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup and we have to kind of figure out how to get these big personalities, these big egos into a room and playing for more than themselves. That’s obviously a tough challenge.
“But when you talk to these players and you get to know them and you create some trust among them, you understand how much, especially from my standpoint, the Ryder Cup has meant to them growing up, their aspirations, the people that inspired them. I certainly remember as a kid, watching so many Ryder Cups and just wanting to be a part of it.
“There’s definitely some common themes that you can talk to these players about and get them to understand. Whenever I’m making decisions, I’m always thinking about what is best for the team, not what is best for the individual. And I think that people understand this, the players understand that.”
A win would leave Donald as the only captain to oversee three successive outright victories. No pressure, so? It would be some legacy.
“Legacy is a strange one. It is like a label that other people give to you. I suppose whenever my role in the Ryder Cup is finished, I just want to leave the Ryder Cup in a better spot than when I found it. I’ve learned a lot from other captains, other players, other people, and you take those lessons and you put them into things that you want to accomplish as a captain.
“There’s definitely some things through my captaincy that I’m very proud of, that we’ve kind of initiated, that have never really happened in the past. Hopefully those initiatives will continue for time and time again.”
Donald, a four-time Ryder Cup player and former world No 1, would be supportive of a mixed team match at some point in the future.
“Who wouldn’t want to see a Nelly Korda or Charley Hull playing with a Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm or Scottie Scheffler; the best in the men’s and women’s in the world.
“But I guess the issue of creating a Ryder Cup-style event, or whatever you’d call it, would take some time. It would take a little bit of creating. All good events take time to create a legacy and history. And, obviously we’re seeing everything changing on the PGA Tour right now with the schedules and talk of doing some of that on the DP World Tour, too. So, it would be a challenge just finding the time to fit it in and create something that was of real worth and value.”
With the clock ticking down to the eagerly-awaited sold-out match at Adare Manor, Donald assembled many of the likely members of his team at the resort last Monday for a get-together following the Irish Open and before the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
“Being the centenary Ryder Cup obviously makes it extra special, 100 years we’ll be celebrating next year. To do it in a place like Ireland, which we all know, anyone who plays golf and has gone, visited Ireland and played the golf courses, the welcome you get there from the locals is something special. I think it’s going to create an amazing environment for the Ryder Cup.
“I’m extremely honoured. I think to be able to be a captain once is truly a blessing. To have a chance to do it three times and maybe create some history along the way is pretty cool as well. So, definitely things are starting to ramp up with preparations for next year and we’re very excited about the opportunities and the challenges ahead.”
Rolex began its association with the Ryder Cup in 1995 and is now a Worldwide Partner
