Europe’s Ryder Cup team has what it wanted: Luke Donald, who captained the squad to victory in 2023 and 2025, will lead it for a third time at Adare Manor, Ireland, in September 2027.
“Two more years,” was the cry at the team’s press conference after the first triumph in Rome, and it was repeated in the aftermath of the New York heist last year.
The European players have faith in the Englishman’s attention to detail and 100 percent trust in his methods, but he admitted, “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 my job was done. But maybe there is a little more story to tell.”
Europe will hope so.
Five years ago, in the aftermath of Europe’s dispiriting 19-9 defeat at Whistling Straits, there were fears that the result would herald a period of American dominance.
It is not entirely Donald’s doing that such a prospect has been repelled – many American players have lost form during the matches and much American decision-making has been poor – but he has unquestionably revitalised the European cause.
The simplicity of the European announcement Wednesday also makes for a striking contrast with the American leadership’s ongoing inability to confirm whether Tiger Woods will take on Team USA’s captaincy.
Not that Donald, shrewd as he is, was willing to be drawn in on the prospect of going head-to-head with Woods.
“It’s hard to comment on something that hasn’t happened yet,” he said. “Whoever their captain is, it doesn’t really change my role which is to formulate a plan to give our team the best opportunity, and what the U.S. are doing is kind of inconsequential to that.”
As cagey as that response was, in adding that “Tiger moves the needle still” Donald was tacitly admitting that the hoopla at Adare Manor will be significantly ramped up if Woods is indeed skippering the visitors.
It is not all plain-sailing for Europe, of course.
Jon Rahm, one of Europe’s key performers in the last two victories, has not only rejected the DP World Tour’s deal with LIV golfers – one Tyrrell Hatton has signed – he has even claimed the tour is “extorting” him.
If the two parties fail to find middle ground, the Spaniard’s place in the Ryder Cup team in 2027 is in peril. As with Woods, though, Donald was too smart to voice an opinion on his first day back in office.
“I haven’t talked to Jon so I don’t really want to comment on that yet,” he said. “I know he has his reasons but I look forward to catching up with him and really hope that he’s available. There’s plenty of time and there are always bumps in the road.”
“This journey has given me so much focus, so much purpose and it is something I don’t take for granted.” – Luke Donald
Had the ongoing dispute – and the possibility of losing one of his key weapons – been a feature of his decision to captain again, Donald was asked.
“No,” he said. “My decision was based on the backing of the players and the backing of my family.”
Do not overlook, either, what the role has offered him given that, as he admitted at the announcement, he has ceased to be competitive on tour. “This journey has given me so much focus, so much purpose and it is something I don’t take for granted,” he said.
There will be stress ahead, of course, and he is ready for it. Indeed, there is a genuine sense that he thrives on it.
“You are meant to win at home, that is the expectation, and certainly our record is great at home,” he said. “Because of that I certainly felt more pressure in Rome than I did in New York.
“And defending will come with its burdens and its pressures. But all I can control is giving my team the best opportunity, and creating that culture where they can play at the level they know they can play.
“They’ve certainly done that the last two Ryder Cups and it’s something I’m very proud of, but it’s my job to start again.
“This is a new challenge, with new strategies involved, a new course and there will likely be some new players as well. Each Ryder Cup offers its own different strategies and ways to go about it.”
Guy Kinnings, chief executive of the European Tour Group, was understandably delighted to have Donald back at the helm.
“The victories in Rome and New York were remarkable, but almost even more impressive was how Luke led the team and how he conducted himself,” he said. “He has faced a lot of challenges as captain throughout his two terms, and he has handled all of them with his usual calm, poise and authority and above all with respect.”
Ahead of the last Ryder Cup the committee in charge of appointing the captain declared that it had identified a need for an away captain to have prior experience of leading the team, such is the intensity of that test.
Donald’s third term makes maintaining that strategy somewhat difficult therefore, but Kinnings brushed off any concerns.
“You have to make sure that you select the best captain for the upcoming match,” he said. “And we’ve got the right man for 2027.”
With the appointment, Donald has history in his crosshairs.
Walter Hagen and Ben Hogan have skippered the U.S. team to four and three victories, respectively, but neither landed three victories in consecutive matches.
In the 100th anniversary of the Ryder Cup, the Englishman will seek to become the first captain on either side to do just that.
He will feel pressure over the next 18 months. So, too, will whoever he is up against. And Adare Manor had better watch out, too, even though it is a five-star venue that prides itself on the highest standards of luxury.
In New York Donald was unimpressed by the host hotel’s door frames, bed linens and shampoo, and had them all repaired or replaced.
Take a minute, therefore, to think of the Adare Manor housekeeping team. They, too, might be feeling a bit twitchy after Wednesday’s news.