Luke Donald On Keegan Bradley USA Playing Captain Or Not: “He Will Be A Significant Force & Factor For His Team”.

5 days ago by 0

* Bernie McGuire in Munich

European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald knows very much that it is 86 days till the opening tee shot of the 2025 Ryder Cup when Europe will be guests in upstate New York and looking to retain the Ryder Cup on US soil for a first time since 2012.

However most talk in recent weeks has the distraction being caused by whether or not rival USA Captain Keegan Bradley, and currently ranked ninth on the USA standings should select himself to play.

Bradley has certainly put himself in position to select himself following his stunning last hole victory of England’s Tommy Fleetwood to capture the Travelers Championship.

It’s been all the Ryder Cup talk in the weeks following Bradley’s Connecticut success and with European rival captain Donald clearly delgihted he’s not dearing with the same issue.

“It’s something that hasn’t been done since 1963, so there’s not much precedent for it”, said Donald ahead of competing in this week’s 36th hosting of the BMW International Open

 “Yeah, there’s a lot of work that goes into being a captain. Keegan is obviously playing extremely well, and well enough to be one of the players on that team, for sure.

“And, you know, he spoke about it himself a couple of weeks ago. When he got that first call, when they said, we want you to be a playing captain. So, it’s something the US seem to be preparing for. 

“Fortunately for me, it’s not something I have to think about, so I’m not really worrying about being a playing captain.

“But, you know, I think whether Keegan is just a captain or whether he’s a playing captain, you know, he will be a significant force and spirit for that team. We saw that with the Travellers, you know, he’s well-liked by the crowd.

 “We’ll fire him up, and it’ll be something that we’ll have to prepare for, and will prepare for”.

Donald revealed in the 86 day countdown to competition at Bethage Park Black his biggest decision will be on September 1st when he will name his six ‘wildcard’ picks.

He was also asked the fact New York is a very passionate sports town. What are your thoughts on Bethpage?

“I think New York is a very sports-rich town — has lots of different sports, very passionate sports fans. I think they love their sport. I think Bethpage is gonna be, you know, an amazing venue — just being on this massive State Park. It’s a big, big arena,” he said.

“You can fit a lot of people in there. It’s gonna be high energy. And I think it’s gonna be, again, an energised crowd. So we’re gonna have to be ready for that”.

There was the following questions additional questions to Donald.

Q: I’m just interested in an aspect of what went into the process ahead of Rome, and that’s maybe when you played with players who ultimately made the team, in a tournament like this. I’m not asking for specific names, but are there any examples where playing with someone gave you insight into their character — into whether they might be right for the
team?

“Yeah, I think you can learn a little bit. You know, a good example was Ludvig — I played with him in Detroit, and you could just tell that he was a special player. You know, a sort of generational player. And I said that in the media. You know, really outside of Rory, when he was coming along and I played with him — I think it was ’07 at the Dunhill — you
could just tell that these guys are different”, said the Englishman.

“That doesn’t happen very often, but it’s nice just to kind of play with these guys, get to know them a little bit. You spend four or five hours with them, you can chat to them, you can understand them a little bit. You can just see how they handle the pressure, what their game is like.

“So it gives you a little bit of an insight. But obviously, all the current form — not just the days they play with me — is important as well”.

Q: And what about the layout of Bethpage — what are your thoughts there?

“Yeah, well again, very helpful to have Edoardo [Molinari] as one of my vice- captains. We’ve had some prior tournaments played at Bethpage,” Donald said.

“We sort of understand what the strengths of the game need to be to be successful, what’s worked well around
Bethpage before.

“So again, those are all considerations that will go into my thinking when it comes to some of the picks. But for us, I mean — we’ve got to get to 14 points. It’s as simple as that to retain the trophy.

“Obviously, I’d love to get more than that.

“But we’ll come in very united as a team, with strong memories from two years ago, while understanding it’s a big challenge ahead. The U.S. will be strong. We’ll be the underdogs —certainly on paper. But my job is to have them prepared, to be ready, to bring all their individual skills into a team environment, and to give them something that gets them in the right frame of mind.

“As captain, that’s really my job — to try and create a culture of success, and something where they feel comfortable enough to perform at their level. And if they perform at their level, I think we have a good chance.

Well said and thanks for your time!



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