Luke Donald will have a chance to become the first European Ryder Cup captain to lead his team to three consecutive victories.
The DP World Tour announced on Wednesday that the 48-year-old Englishman will captain the European team next year at Adare Manor in Ireland. This comes after Donald led his team to victory in Rome (2023) and last fall in Bethpage (2025).
“The last two Ryder Cups have been very important to me and my family. I never imagined there would be a third. Celebrating it on Sunday night in New York after a pressure-packed week in a tough environment, I thought maybe my job was done. But maybe there’s a little more story to tell,” Donald said in a statement.
With Donald at the helm once again, the Europeans look to be overwhelming favorites next year.
Donald is the fourth player to captain the European team in three or more consecutive Ryder Cups. Dai Rees (1955, ’57, 159, ’61, ’67), Tony Jacklin (’83, ’85, ’87, ’89) and Bernard Gallacher (’91, ’93, ’95) were the previous three. Jacklin won the Ryder Cups in 1985 and 1987 before his team tied the 1989 match.
Counting his time as a player, Donald will go for one the seventh Ryder Cup winner.
“I think it’s definitely a big advantage for the European team to have that continuity and that consistency. I was kind of banging on that drum going into Bethpage. And we’ll have it even more again,” Rory McIlroy said at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “It’s great to have Luke back. There isn’t a player or a person behind the scenes helping with Ryder Cup Europe who isn’t thrilled that Luke agreed to come back and do it again.”
Meanwhile, the American side is in oblivion. Tiger Woods said he has been asked to captain the US team but remains focused on helping the PGA Tour through schedule changes.
“(The PGA of America) has asked me for my input on it and I haven’t made my decision yet,” Woods said at the Genesis Invitational. “I’m trying to figure out what we’re trying to do with our tour. It’s driven me hour after hour every day and trying to figure out if I can really do our team, our USA team and our players and everybody that’s going to be involved in the Ryder Cup, if I can do that justice with my time. Serving on two boards and what I’m really doing, if I can do for the PGAm. people that are involved and serve them at an honorable level.”
Taking Sean
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
LIV removed many of their European captaincy options, but why would they want someone like Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood or Sergio Garcia anyway?
Hell, they should let Donald keep the role as long as they’re winning and he’s willing.
It is likely that the latter will happen before the former. Captaining a Ryder Cup team is a lot of work.
Donald has been meticulous and brilliant in the role of captain, pushing all the right buttons for captain’s selections and pairings.
It’s in direct contrast to the American side, which is a total show. We had Keegan Bradley, who was out of his depth, teaming up with Harris English and Collin Morikawa – which analysts said was the worst team possible – and then doubled him. That’s not even mentioning how he failed to set up the course.
Now the PGA of America is taking a wild move with Tiger.
What do we know about Tiger as a captain? He won the Presidents Cup as captain, but it was his performance as a player that cemented victory.
Maybe he would be a great captain. It is difficult to say.
All we know is that the American side has virtually no plan. The Europeans take the game seriously and are dominant because of it.
I highly doubt this will change in Ireland. Pencil in another European victory.
Main photo caption: Team Europe is back with Luke Donald. (GETTY IMAGES/Rich Story)
