Luke Donald admitted that his heart was in the throat on Sunday at Bethpage Black HOW Rally Furious Ryder of Americans turned out only short, allowing Europe to continue for a 15-13 win.
But while Donald could have begun to sweat Sunday as a red host climbed to the board, the result was just in doubt. Europeans entered Sunday bachelors in Long Island with a massive 12-5 lead over the Americans after dominating the first two days, thanks to Donald and the nearby plan of his team. While American captain Keegan Bradley made some curious decisions With his couples during the first two days of the biennial event, Donald and Europe pressed all the right buttons to take over the competition. In four, the approach focused on Europeans’ data provided a 6-2 advantage. In four balls, Donald and his team were supported on Rory Mcilroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose to have enough in the reservoir to hold them. The result? An advantage of 5.5-2.5 for Europe.
To hear Donald tell her, European capture in a road victory was simple. He got the best from Mcilroy, Rahm and Fleetwood, while the American stars failed to do the same for Bradley.
But the rise of Donald to become one of the biggest captains of the Ryder Cup in history is, of course, more complex than to draw a group of stars. Others have made it and failed spectacularly, especially on the road.
Donald’s success was in detail. Every last one
After capturing Europe for a convincing victory in Rome in 2023, Donald again pressed all the right buttons in Bethpage to become the fourth European captain who won on foreign land. As the European celebration began, Donald’s team spoke about his attention in detail, which included changing shampooing to the hotel, getting the new bed and covering the door, so that his team could sleep better and heal better.
“I really engaged in this job because I feel I owe it to the players and owe it to Ryder Cup, who has been so special to me. I’ve had so many extraordinary experiences,” Donald said on Sunday. “So yes, I have had some kind of putting my game a little by side, and every day I am trying to think about things that can help us, come up with different things that can simply give us a little advantage.
“My job is literally giving these boys a better chance to win. It can be as simple as some very small things.”
Making a lot for all the decisions that enter the capture of a Ryder Cup team. Some have been successful, such as Donald and Paul Azinger, and those who have fallen, like Zach Johnson and Tom Watson.
Of course, most of the success comes home, where you have the course configuration control and you can board the power wave provided by your crowd. Winning on the road, especially in front of Bethpage fans who crossed the line many times over three days is something completely different. Donald, who was a member of the latest European team to win on American soil in 2012, realized how difficult it would be and set out to give his players the small juice it would need to motivate the Long Island crowd and defeat a talented American side.
Donald’s secret was not in analytics or Shampone Le Labo, but in his understanding that his work as a captain was to provide his world -class players confidence that they could get into history. When you feed the best in the world with unsparing faith, the rest often take care of himself.
“Well, our topic was that we were trying to win for the fifth time,” Donald said. “We talked about this at the beginning of the week. The practice shirts were based on the victories we had already far from: ’87, ’95, ’04, 2012. Everything we did was a kind of focus about it, and to make the boys feel that we had done it often.
“My job, again, is to give them the reasons to make them believe that they can win.”
This, of course, could have been all Very different.
Donald was not the initial European captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome. This was Henrik Svenson, who was removed from his captain after leaving to join Liv Golf. The post went to Donald with short notice. He threw his first cup and supported it by leading Europe towards an extraordinary victory on American soil. Perhaps Europeans should send a Liv Golf gift basket.
Without a clear captain waiting in the wings for the 2027 Ryder Cup in Adare Manor in Ireland, he calls for Donald to go again as the champagne began to flow.
“Two years old,” Jon Rahm said on Sunday.
“Let’s do it in Ireland again,” Shane Lowry said.
Donald just smiled.
“No comment,” he said.
At that point, there was no need. If Luke Donald wants to go again, the work will definitely be his. But that was a conversation for another day.
On Sunday, Donald’s leadership and culture spoke, as they had all week. And all that remained was the celebration.
