NEWTOWN SQUARE, PENNSYLVANIA | They are two men from different continents united by an identical aim – to win the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, Ireland, in September 2027. Jim Furyk is the tall one, suited and booted in smart casual clothes and a blue-and-white striped shirt, a handkerchief in his breast pocket, loafers on his feet, who has captained one U.S. Ryder Cup team and lost. Luke Donald is the quietly spoken other, the Englishman and former world No. 1 who wears the clothes of a competitor in the 108th PGA Championship, who has captained the past two Europe Ryder Cup teams and won both matches.
On the eve of the PGA, Furyk and Donald were facing up to pressures of different sorts that could be described as the accompaniment to their jobs. Furyk’s is to captain a victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team away from home for the first time since 1993. Success for Furyk would bring satisfaction and respect to the golfers of his country. The U.S. do not often have such losing records. It’s not in their nature. As a nation they are very success-orientated.
The pressure Donald faces is not to be Europe’s first losing captain of a home Ryder Cup for 33 years and to become the first European leader to win three Ryder Cups in succession, two home and one away. Such success for Donald would make him unquestionably Europe’s winningest captain, and who knows what might happen then? He might be knighted. Perhaps the words “arise Sir Luke” are in Donald’s future after a member of the royal family, perhaps in Buckingham Palace, holding a jewelled sword secure in its scabbard, has tapped him lightly on each shoulder.
For now, he has few concerns.
He leads a well-run product, one on which as much as $20 million is spent for each match, one in which the canon of Ryder Cup knowledge is passed like a baton from one contest to the next, one in which the art of statistical analysis is handled brilliantly by vice captain Edoardo Molinari. Even the defection to LIV Golf of certain players and their eligibility to compete in the Ryder Cup, a subject of some discussion on the players’ home tour, is suppressed on the altar of success in the Ryder Cup.
“There’s always going to be people that have different opinions and different viewpoints but when it comes to the Ryder Cup in the team room I think they’re all pretty aligned,” Donald said. “Obviously it’s my job to make sure everyone is aligned. I like to use the phrase ‘even brothers fight sometimes.’ But deep down they love each other and the mission is pretty clear when we play a Ryder Cup and that’s to win.”
Furyk meanwhile has a list as long as his arm of things to do and for those of a U.S. persuasion, those who are chafing at the way Europe seems to emerge triumphant from these biennial competitions more often than not, a clear idea of how to set about them. He started making a list of things to be done after last year’s event at Bethpage Black even though he was only invited to captain the team last month.
“My job is to create a culture, chemistry, amongst them [his players] and put them in positions where they can be successful,” Furyk said. “Something we really need to improve on and get better at is the need to create a blueprint. We need to create more continuity for our players and for our future captains. And we really need to start making the Ryder Cup more of a priority each and every year, year in and year out, and focus on growing and evolving it into the future. That’s something I take really seriously. … Let’s look at it right now.
“I’m pulled in in April to captain the team. We could be better at this 12-month process. We decompress. We let it go for six months and now we hire and bring in – we brought Keegan [Bradley as captain] in even later than this [in 2024]. He had less than 18 months to prepare. And that’s a guy who never even served as a vice captain. I think we could have put Keegan in a much better position last year.
“I know how special it was for me to play in the Ryder Cup. It’s my favorite event.” – Jim Furyk
“There is a lot of different things we can grow and get better at – our logistics, our travel, our schedule,” Furyk continued. “We can get into our pairings. In our team play these last two Ryder Cups on Friday and Saturday we’ve dug [ourselves into] massive holes. Foursomes is the glaring problem. We’re like 6-20 in foursomes the last three matches.”
Furyk did not accept that recent U.S. teams have lacked unity. “I think that’s low-hanging fruit. It’s an easy way to say why a talented team didn’t get a W but it’s not the right way. I’ve been in the team room. I’ve seen the joy. I saw ’21, the cigars, the hugs, the beers, you name it. I’ve also seen the tears and I’ve seen guys and what it really means to them to be a Ryder Cup player. I know how special it was for me to play in the Ryder Cup. It’s my favorite event.”
He did however acknowledge that for Paris in 2018 when he was captain he considered players who profiled well for the venue, Le Golf National, but were not necessarily in their best form. He referred to the “… the Zach Johnsons, the Matt Kuchars, Kevin Kisner … Brian Harman. I took them over there for practice rounds. They saw the golf course. I knew they profiled well for it.
“Kis was hurt. Zach and Kuch really weren’t having great years and not a good second half of the year. That was a big decision [of mine] right there. Am I taking the guys in current form or am I taking the guys that I think profile well for the golf course? We know the rest of that story, what I took and what happened.” (Furyk selected Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau, who went a combined 2-10.)
Furyk impressed with his frankness, his organisation, his aims. He is working with Terry Clark, who has been chief executive of the PGA of America for less than 100 days. Together, they are striving to give the U.S. the best chance of success in Ireland in 16 months’ time.
There is only one snag in the PGA of America’s plans. The well-oiled Europe team’s organisation is working just as well. They are not standing still admiring past victories. They want a third success in as many matches just as much as the Americans want a first victory away from home in this century.