Luke Donald has given his potential Ryder Cup players a taste of what to expect at Bethpage, praising the “huge importance” of this week's Team Cup.
Video posted on social media showed players from the UK, Ireland and continental Europe forced to listen to chants of “USA, USA” over the public address system before a practice round at an Abu Dhabi golf resort.
The Teams Cup effectively fills the void left by the Sevi Cup and was reinstated in 2023 to increase Europe's chances of regaining the Ryder Cup, a move that paid off with a dominant victory in Rome during Donald's captaincy .
Donald will captain the team again in New York in September, where a hostile atmosphere is expected, while he will also oversee the team's cup competition, with Francesco Molinari taking over as continental captain Go for a second win against Justin Rose's GB&I team.
“If you look at this game two years ago, half the team we had in Rome played here two years ago,” Donald said. “I think it's very important.
“You've got two great teams, you've got rookies who are eager to try and make a mark, you've got two guys with a lot of experience.
“For me, it’s great to be able to oversee and watch these players perform in Match Play and under that kind of pressure.
“I think match play and team match play bring a different kind of pressure. You can see how people deal with the situation and you can see how they react. Some people do it better than others, Nico pull [Hojgaard] Just an example.
“He came in under difficult circumstances and replaced his brother [Rasmus, who was injured] And probably had the best performance of anyone that week. Eight months later, when I made my choice, I considered this.
“So those are the things we're going to see and focus on, and again, it's a big week in New York's preparations.”
Molinari's brother Eduardo is Europe's Ryder Cup statistics guru and plays the same role in Abu Dhabi.
“I think he's here to help both teams and be as neutral as possible,” Francisco said.
“We've actually been working on this for a few weeks now, looking at different player combinations and strengths and weaknesses; that will definitely come in handy when we need to write down pairings.
“I think it's a little bit different compared to two years ago because we only have three nationalities on the team. [five Danes, three French and two Italian].
“So, on the one hand, it might be easier to get some people to unite, but at the same time you don't want three groups of people to be disunited from each other. That's interesting.
“The dynamic of the team has always fascinated me. I'm a huge football fan so I've always dreamed of being a football player and a football manager. So this is probably the closest thing to being a football manager.
Source link
