Donald under pressure to make decision on 2025 Bethpage Park captaincy

Bernie McGuire

21st November 2023

It is being reported that victorious Rome Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald is under pressure to make a decision without further delay if he wishes to remain in charge in leading the European Team to the States in two years time at Bethpage Park in New York.

No sooner had Donald led his team to the Roman rout than there were boisterous calls from his dozen players calling for “two more years, two more years.”

And the calls for Donald to remain on as only a fourth repeat European Team captain were strengthened after Justin Rose, who will be aged 45 come the 2025 Ryder Cup, indicated he was not interested in being in charge for the 45th team leadership role.

The practice of announcing a new European Team captain early has become commonplace in recent years with the confirmation of Thomas Bjorn’s appointment for 2018 being announced on December 2nd, 2016, while Padraig Harrington was announced on January 8th, 2019 for the 2020 captaincy before the event was then put back to 2021 due to Covid.

Donald already has the backing of Europe’s top points scorer in Rome as Rory McIlroy labelled Donald one of the best captains he has served under while fellow Irishman Paul McGinley who led Europe to glory in 2014 at Gleneagles, also has given him his support.

However, according to a report in The Telegraph quoting a Tour ‘source’, Donald has been given until the end of the year to decide if he wants to take the reins again.

“We want to announce the captain by the end of the year,” the source reportedly said, “so Luke does not have that much time to decide, although we have left him in peace while he discusses it with his family, because it is a big, big commitment. There is a process, but everyone knows that if Luke wants it, Luke gets it. Let’s just say, the signs are promising.”

The only other European captains to hold the team reins for successive Ryder Cups have been John Jacobs (1979 and 1981), Tony Jacklin (1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989) and Bernard Gallacher (1991, 1993 and 1995) and they remain the only golfers who have captained Team Europe more than once.