There are still a few weeks left until the start of the Ryder Cup, and the captains of both the European and American teams have serious plans. This is the period when the captains together with the vice-captains carefully analyze the situation, already knowing the roster that will represent the team.
Luke Donald, the captain of the Europeans, has quality players at his disposal, with the potential to really surprise this year.
The public is wondering if the European team can beat the American team this year, considering that playing on away soil is one of the most difficult tasks in the world of golf.
Luke Donald will have at his disposal an almost identical roster as in Rome, with one small change. Speaking about his team and his team's experience, the 47-year-old captain points out that it is a big thing to have a similar roster, especially when he looks at the young golfers, i.e. the rookies who have now matured.
Several of them convinced the public that they deserved Luke Donald's call two years ago.
As an example, he cited Bob MacIntyre, who experienced dizzying success after the Ryder Cup in Rome and became one of the best golfers in the world.
"Yeah, I think you could definitely argue that. Definitely the profiles of some of the players have changed. You would have had some rookies that certainly have more experience now. You just look at someone like Bob, who had a great Ryder Cup in Rome but was a little bit wet behind the ears in terms of what to expect.
I think just someone like that, he's grown so much as a player. You can see it just from a statistical standpoint. Certainly whereas in Rome, someone like that, a rookie playing for the first time, you're probably not going to risk him in foursomes."- he said.
Luke Donald© MirrorSport / X / Fair Use
Bob MacIntyre's success after the Ryder Cup
Bob MacIntyre is truly an example of a golfer who showed he deserved Luke Donald's call two years ago. Although he was almost anonymous for some at the time, the Scottish golfer matured significantly in those few years and showed that he really belongs to the top of the golf scene.
After the Ryder Cup in 2023, he achieved a lot of success, with wins at the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open in June and July last year attracting the most attention.
MacIntyre has excelled at important tournaments this year, showing that he deserves Luke Donald's call-up again.
The captain of the European team gave him a new chance, aware that the Scottish golfer can be an important figure in his team.
Regarding pairings, Donald stressed that a lot has changed in the last two years, so there will be changes in pairings.
The experienced golfer is ready to change tactics, aware that it is necessary to surprise the American team.
"But he's got two years of experience under his belt now. He's improved as a player. His characteristics of what he's doing well in different parts of the game have changed. Again, we have to look at — that's just one example. That's the same example for all 12. You have to look at how the players have changed over the last two years and then form your pairings.
That's why I talk about it's not going to be exactly the same. I think it would be foolish of me to put exactly the same pairings out that I did in Rome, because these players are different and they have different strengths and different strategies.
Again, this is all things that we've been looking at and will be talking about over the coming days.."- he concluded.
