Predicting Luke Donald’s captain’s picks for the 2025 Ryder Cup.
The Ryder Cup is less than a month away, and Luke Donald will make his captain’s picks for Team Europe on Monday, September 1st.
While Keegan Bradley’s captain’s picks were steeped in controversy before their announcement, with discussions as to whether Bradley would pick himself as playing captain, Team Europe have flown quietly under the radar.
Donald is a returning captain with a deep knowledge of his team and great relationships with his players. We already know his six automatic qualifiers, who are a group of familiar faces to the Ryder Cup. Here, we predict Donald’s six captain’s picks.
| Rank | Player |
| 1 | Rory McIlroy |
| 2 | Robert MacIntyre |
| 3 | Tommy Fleetwood |
| 4 | Justin Rose |
| 5 | Rasmus Hojgaard |
| 6 | Tyrrell Hatton |
1. Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm needs a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup for the first time in his career, after spending the season on the LIV Golf Tour. But Rahm, the LIV Golf Individual and Team Champion, has had a stellar season and will be a key player for Europe.
Rahm showed solid performances in the 2025 majors, making all four cuts and had three top-15 finishes.
The Spaniard was undefeated in the 2023 Ryder Cup, earning three points from four matches for Team Europe. He’ll be a key piece for the Europeans in front of a hostile New York crowd.
2. Shane Lowry
On recent form alone, it’s difficult to argue that Shane Lowry is a worthy pick for the Ryder Cup. He fell out of automatic qualification on the final event of the season. But Lowry, the 2019 Open Championship winner, is built for these occasions.
A strong start to 2025 saw Lowry record two second-place finishes. He came in just behind Rory McIlroy at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and nearly captured his first PGA Tour title since 2019 at the Truist Championship.
He cooled off in the final few months, but he’s a strong character and a sure pick for the Ryder Cup.
3. Sepp Straka
Sepp Straka is another sure bet to be picked for Bethpage after battling for automatic qualification all season. He’s won twice this season in his best PGA Tour season, beating Lowry to the Truist Championship earlier in the year.
Admittedly, he’s struggled at the major championships. He made the cut at only one, The Open Championship, where he finished 52nd. That’s a concern in a high-pressure environment.
The Austrian has earned the benefit of the doubt with his play, however, and is a valuable piece to the European side.
4. Ludvig Aberg
One half of a record-breaking pairing in Rome, Aberg embarrassed Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka at the 2023 Ryder Cup with the biggest margin of victory in the competition’s history alongside Viktor Hovland. He was a rookie in 2023, but he has proven he can handle the environment.
Faced with high expectations entering the year, Aberg struggled through stretches of 2025. He did win The Genesis Invitational, but didn’t show form to follow it up. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open.
Aberg began to find form in the lead-up to The Open, and has three top-10s on the back end of the year. It was never a realistic worry that Aberg wouldn’t make the team, but Donald will be encouraged to see his form improve heading into New York.
5. Viktor Hovland
If there was a doubt that Hovland wouldn’t make the team before, it wasn’t after McIlroy let slip that Hovland would be picked by Donald at the Tour Championship. He’s a worthy member of the team and the other half of the record-breaking pairing from Rome.
In a dismal start to 2025, Hovland missed the cut in his first six events. Then, out of nowhere, he won the Valspar Championship. He came in third at the U.S. Open this season and has shown solid play all year.
When you get further down the list of players on a Ryder Cup team, you’re looking for upside rather than consistency. If Hovland can catch fire at Bethpage, he could well give Scottie Scheffler some flashbacks of 2023.
6. Matt Fitzpatrick
Perhaps the biggest question mark for Donald’s captain’s picks. Fitzpatrick’s form to start 2025 saw him at real risk of missing out on a place at Bethpage. But no one behind him is banging down the door despite Harry Hall’s recent form, and Fitzpatrick has shown signs of life over the summer.
He had five top-10 finishes over eight appearances, which include two major championships. He was also in contention to win the Open before Scheffler’s historically great performance. Fitzpatrick has been one of the best European players on Tour for a number of months.
He does have an abysmal Ryder Cup record at 1-7, but he’s playing too well to leave him off the team.
Biggest snub: Harry Hall
It’s hard not to feel that Harry Hall will feel hard done by if he doesn’t make the team, but it appears that he won’t be in New York.
He’s been one of the most consistent performers in world golf this season. Hall has finished T28-or-better in his last 12 starts and now ranks in the top 10 of the DataGolf rankings.
What Hall lacks is the upside that Donald should seek in the back end of his team. He doesn’t have a single top-five finish to his name, and hasn’t proven he can go toe-to-toe with the world’s best with the weight of a continent on his shoulders.
He’ll need to pick up his first win, or at least contend for one, in the next two years if he wants to be picked in 2027.