Donald and McDowell picked — as vice-captains
WHen Thomas bjorn took over as europe Ryder Cup captain last year and demanded the number of wildcards be increased to four, he must have had players like Graeme McDowell and Luke Donald in mind.
It will have given both players mixed feelings, therefore, when the skipper asked them if they would form part of his backroom team of vice- captains, despite the fact the qualification period still has three months to run.
Of course, it doesn’t rule either player out from making the team, and bjorn stressed he would be ‘proud’ if they did enough over the summer to qualify on merit, but the writing is on the wall.
bjorn said the primary quality of any vice- captain is to ‘check your ego at the locker room door,’ and both certainly did a good job of that when officially unveiled yesterday.
Donald, 40, flew over from America for the announcement, despite the fact a back injury will prevent him from playing in the bMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, beginning tomorrow, an event he has won on two occasions.
‘The fact that I won’t be able to play for another month means that making the team would be a long shot, so that helped,’ conceded Donald (below). ‘I’ve had a constant dialogue with Thomas and told him I’d do anything to help.’
McDowell, 38, who has fallen to 239th in the world but is a two-time winner at the Ryder Cup venue, added: ‘I’m looking forward to a summer of helping out Thomas but also believing this move will help my golf, since it’ll take the expectation level off my shoulders.’
Completing the vice-captaincy line-up alongside previously announced Robert Karlsson are two veterans who everyone expected to get the nod: Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington. england’s Tommy Fleetwood will be looking to them for guidance, although he’s got a pretty good man he can call upon already — Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who will be his playing partner in today’s pro-am. ‘We’ve become good friends, and it can’t hurt when you can call upon someone as successful as Pep for advice,’ said Fleetwood.