Luke Donald will have to make a decision soon. The strong support from the successful European Ryder Cup team for Donald to take the captaincy again in 2025, plus, frankly, the lack of obvious alternatives, means that the Englishman will certainly be followed up. Initially this will be informal, but the scenario will crystallize early next year.
Captaincy the Donald way – the definition of thorough – is exhausting. The competitor in him will want to see if he can keep the cup in the cauldron of New York’s Bethpage. However, there are a large number of elements to take into account. Winning at home 16½-11½ is one thing; support it entirely on American soil.
“I’ll consider it, of course,” Donald said. “I certainly haven’t thought about it at this point. I want to enjoy now. I want to enjoy this week. It’s not an easy job. It took a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of thinking. So I would have to think about it seriously, together with my wife and my family.
“I can walk and I think I did a great job this week. The players are very happy, we won and leave that as my legacy.”
Or? “New York is an interesting place. They have fans that will be very noisy and loud. You know what the energy will be like there. To be able to somehow turn that energy to your side is probably the secret out of my head. I know how to create a culture where the team becomes one, but it’s about blocking out that noise.
“It’s a big task. It’s been 14 months of a lot of workflow planning, a lot of thinking, a lot of moving, a lot of Zooms. So again, I’m not going to think about that right now. That’s for another time.”
Francesco Molinari seems to be the most serious alternative if Donald decides to leave the Ryder Cup scene. The potential exploitation of New York’s Italian community adds to its appeal. Choosing the American captain for 2025 is even trickier; the name Tiger Woods has been floated, but it seems he would rather wait until 2027 and Adare Manor. The Limerick venue is owned by Woods’ good friend JP McManus.
Donald reported a mild hangover as the Europeans left their hotel in Rome on Monday morning. His own celebrations ended at 4am. “These moments that you can share with other teammates make it special,” he said.
“It can be quite lonely playing golf sometimes. You spend a lot of time alone in hotel rooms. To have that team environment… I’m sometimes jealous of other sports because they do that a lot. So we’re embracing this week as much as we can and really trying to create an environment and culture that the boys really enjoy and things that they will always remember.
“I think I created an environment and culture for them to succeed, but when Friday comes, I have very little control. I really give them very little on the golf course, just the odd club on the par threes. I can’t give them much. These are highly educated people. They know how to play golf.
“But I was proud that we did so well on Friday and Saturday. Those are the times when we are partnerships in fourballs and foursomes, especially foursomes. That is ultimate trust in your partner and to go 7-1 in fours was quite special. That was the key to our victory.”
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There was redemption for Rory McIlroy after a poor performance at Whistling Straits in 2021. His frustrations reduced him to tears in the immediate aftermath of a 19-9 defeat. Two years later, an inspired McIlroy was Europe’s top scorer. He takes on different emotional forms during Ryder Cup events.
“It’s not just about Rory, the whole twelve understand again how incredible an event it is,” Donald said.
“The raw emotion that we saw two years ago, that raw emotion is coming out. He understands that this is the best event he can play because of the emotions, because of the crowd, because of the atmosphere and sharing these things with the team.
“That always comes down to the need to feel like you want to belong somewhere. That’s why family is important to all of us. You have to have a collective and feel that way. We don’t often have that feeling in golf, and this week we did.”
With McIlroy et al’s approval, Donald certainly won’t pass up the opportunity to taste those feelings again. Will he?