Luke Donald has done everything to ensure that his European team is prepared for the 2025 Ryder Cup in New York.
Team Europe’s captain went as far as to give his side virtual reality headsets to prepare them for the heckling at the first tee box at Bethpage Black. Not only is preparation key for this event, but it’s also extremely difficult, as the pressure cooker environment cannot be replicated.
However, Luke Donald is now a two-time captain, and captained 11 of the 12 players on his team in Rome two years ago. He has all the experience he needs to know how to get Team Europe ready for New York.
A former U.S. Open winner has questioned Donald’s methods after he did something for the first time in Ryder Cup history.
Graeme McDowell questions Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup preparation
Graeme McDowell, who won the 2010 U.S. Open and is a four-time PGA Tour winner, questioned Donald’s method of preparing his team. The Northern Irishman played in four Ryder Cups himself. He won three times, including one in the States in 2012.
For the first time in their history, Europe played a practice round in America in the build-up to the Ryder Cup. They flew to Bethpage Black two weeks before the competition to play two rounds at the famous course.
McDowell, speaking on The Smylie Show, wondered whether Donald has Europe in America for too long, saying “The fact that they’re there right now, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, a week before the tournament. What are they going there so early for?
“That is the longest two weeks ever. It makes for a very long couple of weeks. There are some upsides and some downsides to it.
“The week of the Ryder Cup is an incredibly long week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, there’s a bunch of stuff. A bunch of formal stuff, lots of media, lots of team get-togethers. Practice rounds take hours. By the time you get to Friday, you’re just ready to go.”
Donald is attempting to learn lessons from America’s heavy defeat in Rome in 2023. They went five weeks without playing before the event, then fell in a 0-4 hole on the first day for the first time in their history.
He wants to make sure they don’t enter the Ryder Cup cold, as they did in 2021.
Graeme McDowell reveals why he thinks Europe lost the 2021 Ryder Cup
Last time the Ryder Cup was played in the States, Team Europe were embarrassed at Whistling Straits. They lost 19-9, and it was never close.
McDowell was a Vice Captain in 2021, and said it was preparation that cost them at the event. He said, “One thing I noticed at Whistling Straits that I thought was a big disadvantage was that we didn’t do any site visits in 2021.
“The golf course blew in the wrong direction in the practice rounds, then switched in the tournament rounds.
“The Americans had done a site visit and played the course in the wind that we ended up seeing on the weekend. So the European team were incredibly underprepared for the wind direction that we ended up seeing because the practice rounds had played incorrectly.
“Getting some practice rounds is big. It takes the pressure off them next week a little bit when it comes to the actual practice rounds, but they’re in for a long couple of weeks.”
Yes, the Europeans will be in America for a long time in the lead up to the Ryder Cup. That could be difficult, especially for a player like Rory McIlroy, who said he wanted to hide in America after he won the Masters due to the stress of PGA Tour life.
But the majority of European players are based in America while they play on the tour. It shouldn’t be anything they aren’t used to. Gaining an understanding of Bethpage Black and acclimatising to their surroundings should outweigh the negatives of a lengthy stay.