Luke Donald admits it was “humbling and gratifying” to have the support of Europe’s players after being named captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Donald has been reappointed after masterminding a commanding victory in Rome earlier this year, after which the winning team immediately urged him to break with recent tradition and remain in charge.
Support for the 45-year-old was such that it was inevitable that he would become Europe’s first repeat captain since Bernard Gallacher performed the role in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
The former world number one will also bid to become only the second captain after Tony Jacklin in 1985 and 1987 to win home and away.
While Jacklin and Gallacher led the side on multiple occasions, it had been common practice since 1997 for the captain to only get one bite of the cherry, even if – like Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam – they spearheaded record victories.
However, Europe’s players made it clear they wanted that to change as they chanted “two more years” while Donald gave a television interview following the five-point victory in Rome.
“I think everyone sitting here would be very happy to have him again,” Rory McIlroy said in the winning team’s press conference, while Tommy Fleetwood hailed Donald as “phenomenal”.
Speaking after being reappointed, Donald said: “It was so humbling, so gratifying to hear that they wanted me to carry on and certainly that was a big part of my decision to do that.
“We created some special moments, some special memories that week and to have their backing meant the world to me.
“When I was lifting that trophy and hearing the support the guys had for me, even back then I thought I can’t let the lads down and maybe I have to do this again.
“Not often in life are you given great opportunities and I really feel like this is an amazing opportunity.
“I was given a great opportunity to do Rome [after Henrik Stenson was sacked for joining LIV] and I certainly took it with both hands and to obviously be given the opportunity to go back-to-back is something that I love.
“As Rory said, it’s the ultimate to try to win away from home. I’ve done it twice as a player but it’s not easy. We have to go back to 2012 for (a win) in the US.
“We know that in any sport when you have the crowd behind you it’s a big advantage and certainly I’ll have to figure out ways to kind of counter that.”
Donald could also have to face up to Tiger Woods being his opposite number at Bethpage Black, although the 15-time major winner said on Tuesday that he has become so involved in his new player-director role on the PGA Tour that any conversations about the captaincy would have to take a back seat.
Donald is relaxed about the prospect regardless, preferring to focus instead on whether to retain his five vice-captains and assessing if having six qualifiers and six wild cards is the best system for selecting a team.
“I’m sure someone like Francesco (Molinari) would love to play in New York as I’m sure he feels like he still has an opportunity to do it,” Donald said.
“You saw Justin Rose at age 43 have a great Ryder Cup himself. That’s inspiring, I’m sure, to someone like that.
“I’ll certainly look at all the candidates and all the vice-captains that were under me and have conversations with them and see where their mind is as well. That process starts right now.
“[The qualifying] worked well this time around. We had six picks and those picks performed well. I think we were able to pick some experienced players, some rookies, it was a nice freedom to have as captain.
“Again, those decisions have yet to be decided and that’s probably the number one priority for me to try and figure out, is this the best way going forward?”
Whether future captains also get to lead the team home and away also remains to be seen.
“Right now what we’ve done is made the decision which is based on the goal of retaining the trophy in 2025,” Ryder Cup Europe executive director Guy Kinnings said.
“So I don’t think that it should be read anything more than that. What we’ve done is taken the circumstances we have in front of us and made what I hope, which I know is the right decision, and got the right man at the helm.”
A closer look at the hot streak of world number one Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler claimed his fourth win in five events on Monday when the weather-delayed RBC Heritage concluded at Hilton Head.
That run includes a second Masters title and has seen the world number one extend his sizeable lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the facts and figures around Scheffler’s streak and how they compare to previous runs.
What makes Scheffler’s streak so impressive?Winning any event on the PGA Tour is difficult, but Scheffler has claimed two of the biggest in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, a major championship at Augusta National and the RBC Heritage, which boasted a stronger than usual field after being elevated to a Signature Event this season. Victory at Sawgrass made Scheffler the first player ever to win back-to-back Players titles. His only “failure” was a tie for second in the Houston Open.
Has this been done before?Scheffler is the first player to win four times in five starts on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods, who did so at the end of 2007 and again to start 2008. He is also the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh (2004) – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour. With many players taking a break after winning a major, Scheffler is also the first to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming a green jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985.
How much has Scheffler earned?Scheffler has banked an average of £3.17million for each of his four victories and “only” £448,000 for his five-way tie for second behind Stephan Jaeger in the Houston Open. The total sum of £13.14m would place Scheffler 145th on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list and he is closing in on the single-season record of £17million he set last year. In comparison, Woods won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2000, including three major titles, and never finished worse than 23rd in 20 starts. His prize money totalled £7.4m.
Does the world ranking reflect Scheffler’s dominance?In a word, yes. Ahead of the Genesis Invitational in mid-February, Rory McIlroy could have become world number one by winning at Riviera with Scheffler finishing third or worse. Now, Scheffler has more than double the total and average points of McIlroy, while the average points gap between the top two (7.6493) is bigger than that between McIlroy and the players tied for 4,123st in the standings.
So is Scheffler the most dominant player in world golf?Not quite. Hours before Scheffler completed his victory in Hilton Head, fellow American Nelly Korda had wrapped up a fifth consecutive win on the LPGA Tour by claiming her second major title in the Chevron Championship. Korda’s winning streak matches that of Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05, although her bid for an unprecedented sixth straight win will have to wait after she cited exhaustion when pulling out of this week’s event in Los Angeles. While Scheffler has earned £13.14m from his last five events, Korda’s five wins have been worth £1.94m.
Scottie Scheffler matches Tiger Woods achievement with fourth win in five
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hailed his mental strength after making it four wins in five starts with a rain-delayed victory at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler returned to Hilton Head on Monday morning holding a five-stroke lead with three holes to play after a storm halted proceedings on Sunday.
The world number one dropped a shot at the last to finish 19 under par, three shots ahead of fellow American Sahith Theegala, with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark another stroke back.
Scheffler is the first player to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming the Green Jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985 and the first to win four times in five starts on the US-based circuit since Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Each of Scheffler’s last seven wins have come with at least eight of the world’s top 10 in the field and he is the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
“I was able to go home for a couple days and celebrate,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t really put much thought into it. I had committed to playing the tournament here, it was part of the plan, so we stuck to the plan.
“I talked about it at the beginning of the week – I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose, got off to a slow start but after that played some really nice golf.
“I do have fairly high expectations for myself and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best.
“I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins.
“On the course, I think the last month or so I’ve been as good mentally as I have in a long time and I think that’s why I am seeing some of the results.
“This week could be a good example of starting off and looking at the leaderboard on Thursday and everybody is just making birdie after birdie and I’m sitting there over par and I’ve had a shank on the day.
“I just did my best to stay patient and wait until I got hot.
“Had a nice finish to the round on Thursday and then had a really solid Friday where I felt like I played better than I scored, and then I had Saturday where I just played some really good golf.”
Rory McIlroy carded a final-round 74 to slip into a tie for 33rd.
Scottie Scheffler five strokes ahead with weather forcing a Monday finish
Scottie Scheffler has a five stroke lead with just three holes to play after rain halted play in the RBC Heritage on Sunday.
The US Open champion and world number one continued his great form at Hilton Head in South Carolina on the fourth day of the tournament, hitting an eagle and two birdies across 15 holes.
A storm stopped play for two and a half hours with darkness forcing a finish on Monday.
Fellow American Wyndham Clark had a strong day through his 18 holes, moving into second place with eight birdies and an eagle, but two bogeys and a double bogey stopped him from further encroaching on Scheffler’s lead.
Clark is tied with American’s Patrick Cantlay and J T Poston, who have one hole left to play and Sahith Theegala, who has three holes left to play.
Scheffler is looking for his fourth win in five starts.
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