A sponsor could not be found but, no matter, the really important factor in this week’s Team Cup is not the visuals (and not even the result – can you remember the score in 2023?). Instead, this is a get-together designed to further the European cause in this year’s Ryder Cup (and beyond), and, as such, it is the details rather than the whole that most matters.
Two years ago Thomas Bjorn gave both sides a team talk in which he spoke of his generation having completed a job for Europe and that it was now time for a new one to step forward. It was a notable moment. The thumping Europe had suffered in 2021 was down to many reasons but key among them was a lack of clear transition from the old timers to new blood (and, as crucially, a need for those in-between to assume senior roles). In the week of the Rome triumph that followed Rory McIlroy revisited Bjorn’s theme when it was apparent that the thirtysomethings – the Northern Irishman included – not only took up the mantle of leadership but carried it in style.
If that was an issue two years ago, what questions linger for Donald ahead of this year’s match at Bethpage Black on Long Island? Let’s take a look.
The difficulty of winning away
In the last 13 Ryder Cup matches the home team has emerged victorious 11 times. It’s an imposing truth but Donald will take succour from the fact that the two exceptions were European triumphs and, moreover, Europe has won four times in the last nine away Ryder Cups. European fans might also speculate that in the 21st century Europe has tasted success away from home when skippered by Bernhard Langer, a man whose leadership style Donald somewhat resembles, while the continent’s three defeats came when led by three of its most underwhelming leaders since the 1970s (Nick Faldo, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington).
The New York galleries
Bethpage is right in the heart of New York and, as such, it will attract the city’s infamously wild (and loud) sports fans. The European cause is a difficult one. Any Ryder Cup (in Europe or the States) has hostile home support. But one in New York ramps up this factor and goes nuts with it. Expect noise, expect controversy and expect rancour.
The captains
Donald not only impressed the fans and observers in Italy. Far more importantly the players had no doubts about his quality and wasted no time barracking for him to remain in place. McIlroy even led a “two more years” chant during the trophy presentation. Perhaps the Englishman’s greatest task is to tweak the LIV narrative of 2023. Then, McIlroy and others were able to use the loss of Europe’s past Ryder Cup heroes to LIV as part of that generational handover. It was neat and tidy. But, since then, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton have joined LIV while Donald has had talks with Sergio Garcia about a return to the fray. He’ll need expert diplomatic skills to modify the message.
Conventional wisdom has it that the Americans have shot themselves in the foot by appointing Keegan Bradley as captain. It’s hard to avoid the feeling that he was unfortunate not to be made a captain’s pick by Zach Johnson in 2023, that Netflix’s Full Swing revealed his pain all too brutally, and that he’s been rashly handed the armband as some sort of recompense. As with most Ryder Cup decisions, if it goes right it will be judged a master-stroke, but as it stands it is at best bold and at worst foolhardy.
Europe’s line-up
As it stands, Donald would expect McIlroy and Rahm (who are not playing this week) to make the team and Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton (who are) to join them. Shane Lowry (a two-time top six finisher in the 2024 majors) and Robert MacIntyre (a two-time PGA Tour winner last year) are likely to join them. The two young Scandinavians Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg had a drop in standards in 2024 after stellar 2023 seasons. Donald will hope that they bounce back to their best and he will have similar thoughts about Matthew Fitzpatrick. Assuming all goes well, that makes a solid nine to build the team around.
PGA Tour-based performers such as Sepp Straka, Stephan Jaeger, Seamus Power, Victor Perez and Alex Noren could enter the equation yet none of them compete this week. Among those who are on-site, the Scandinavians (Thorbjorn Olesen, the Hojgaard twins, Niklas Norgaard Moller and Rasmus Neergard Petersen) and the Englishmen (Aaron Rai, Matt Wallace and elder statesman Justin Rose) are most likely to grab the few spots remaining.
The Team Cup
To answer the questions in the opening sentence, Continental Europe landed the win two years ago, defeating Great Britain and Ireland 14.5 points to 10.5. This year’s match might be closer than the prices indicate (GB&I are 3/5, Europe 7/4) but there’s not enough juice in it to get too excited. Instead, we’ll look to the top GB&I points scorer market and bear in mind that one Ryder Cup factor doesn’t exist this week because all 20 players will compete in all four sessions (five fourballs on Friday, two sets of five foursomes on Saturday, 10 singles in Sunday).
The Englishman lives in the United Arab Emirates and he is proven on the course. He was the back-to-back winner on it in 2018 and 2018, the runner-up in 2020 and was seventh in 2021. In the first edition of the Team Cup he won three of his four matches and that was with the added pressure of being captain. This year Justin Rose takes the reins and it ought to free Fleetwood to enjoy the course and the competition free from distraction. This market and the combined are win only so we’ll take Fleetwood to better his team-mates rather than those of the opposition as well.
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