DONALD’S PRIDE
Englishman is honoured to skipper Europe in Ryder Cup after Stenson’s defection to LIV
LUKE DONALD has spoken of his immense pride after being named as Europe’s new Ryder Cup captain for next year’s contest in Rome.
Donald takes over from Henrik Stenson, who was stripped of the captaincy last month on the back of his decision to join the controversial LIV Golf Series.
Stenson had originally been appointed captain on March 15, but his tenure lasted just 127 days before he was effectively sacked for joining the Saudi-backed LIV series.
The news of his move to join LIV was leaked on the final day of The Open Championship at St Andrews and was widely viewed as the Saudis trying to make a political statement against golf’s traditional powerbrokers.
Donald had been one of the original four candidates, along with Scotland’s Paul Lawrie and the Swedish duo of Stenson and Robert Karlsson.
After Stenson had been removed, (right) it was Donald, Lawrie and Karlsson who were then once again considered for the role.
It was confirmed yesterday that it will be the 44-year-old Englishman who will now lead the Europeans as they aim to reclaim the trophy in Rome next year. Donald, a former world No 1, has an excellent Ryder Cup record. He played in the victorious European teams in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012 — and also gained experience as vice-captain to Thomas Bjorn in 2018 and Padraig Harrington last year. ‘I am incredibly proud to be named European Ryder Cup captain for 2023,’ said Donald, who will retain Bjorn and Edoardo Molinari as two of the original vice-captains. ‘It is truly one of the greatest honours that can be bestowed upon a golfer, to lead a team of your peers and be an ambassador for an entire continent. ‘I feel extremely privileged to have been given that responsibility and it is a responsibility I do not take lightly. ‘Some of my best experiences in golf have been in the Ryder Cup and I would not swap those for anything. It is an event like no other and I cannot wait to create more special memories in Italy next year.’ Donald’s appointment came just hours after Stenson pocketed £3.5million on his LIV debut, the 46-year-old winning the individual event and finishing second in the team competition at Trump National Golf Club, New Jersey.
Other high-profile Europeans who have defected to LIV include Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Bernd Wiesberger.
Garcia had said initially that he was willing to give up on the Ryder Cup and would quit the DP World Tour in favour of joining LIV, but the Spaniard softened that stance last week.
For the Americans, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka have joined the controversial breakaway.
The trio have been indefinitely suspended from the PGA Tour and are therefore, as things stand, ineligible for the Ryder Cup, while it remains unclear if the European rebels will be able to qualify.
DP World Tour members who played in the inaugural LIV Golf event were fined £100,000 and banned from competing in the Scottish Open.
However, following a hearing before Sport Resolutions (UK) days before play got under way at the Renaissance Club, Poulter, Adrian Otaegui and Justin Harding had the punishments temporarily stayed, pending determination of their substantive appeals.
As far as Poulter and Westwood are concerned, that means they are still eligible and Westwood plans to play in the Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, in September.