Ryder Cup hopefuls forced to listen to ‘U-S-A, U-S-A’ chants before Team Cup

Luke Donald gave his potential Ryder Cup players a taste of what to expect at Bethpage as he praised the “huge importance” of this week’s Team Cup. Footage posted on social media showed players being forced to listen to chants of “USA, USA” over the PA system before practice rounds started at the Abu Dhabi Golf Resort.

Effectively filling the gap left by the Seve Trophy, the Team Cup was revived in 2023 to boost Europe’s chances of regaining the Ryder Cup, a move that paid off with a resounding victory under Donalds captaincy in Rome. Donald will captain again in New York in September – where a hostile atmosphere is expected – and will also oversee the Team Cup, where Francesco Molinari will bid for a second win as Continental Europe captain against a team from Great Britain and Ireland led by Justin Roos.

“If you look at this event two years ago, half the team we had in Rome two years ago played here,” Donald said. “I think it is extremely important. You have two great teams, you have rookies who are eager to try and make a mark, and you have two guys who have a lot of experience. It’s great for me to oversee it and see how these players perform under match play team competitions and under that kind of pressure.

“I think match play and team match play bring a different pressure. You see how people deal with it and you see how they react. Certain people did better than others, and Nicolai [Højgaard] was an example. He found himself in a difficult situation and replaced his brother [Rasmus, who was injured] and probably performed the best of anyone that week. Eight months later, when I made my choice, that was something I took into account. So these are all things that we’ll see, that we’ll be looking at, and again, it’s a big week for the run-up to New York.

Molinari’s brother Edoardo is Europe’s Ryder Cup statistics guru and also fulfills the same role in Abu Dhabi. “He helps both teams here and tries to be as neutral as possible, I think,” Francesco said. “We’ve actually been looking at that for a few weeks now, looking at different combinations of players and strengths and weaknesses; certainly something that will come in handy when we have to write down the links.

“I think compared to two years ago it’s a bit different because we only have three nationalities in our team [five Danes, three French and two Italian]. So on the one hand it should probably be easier to get some guys to gel, but at the same time you don’t want three groups of people not gelling with each other. It’s interesting.

“Team dynamics have always fascinated me. I am a big football fan and have always dreamed of becoming a football player and football manager. So this is probably the closest I’ve come to being a football manager.”