Just Two Months Removed From a Ryder Cup Win, Luke Donald Is Thinking Two Years Ahead

The Englishman knows he’ll need a different approach in a road game to become the second European captain to win back-to-back Cups.

Long Island will not be like Rome.

In his first official press conference after being named the 2025 European Ryder Cup captain, Luke Donald spent little time reminiscing over his victory at Marco Simone but considerable time explaining that he will need a different approach at Bethpage Black outside New York City, where the U.S. will host the next Ryder Cup.

It’s not lost on Donald that his significant 16½ to 11½ victory less than two months ago in Rome is firmly in the rearview mirror. Repeating at Bethpage is his new job—and it’s a completely different task.

Luke Donald will try to join Tony Jacklin as the only European captains to win consecutive Ryder Cups.  / Imago

In Donald’s history as a player in the biennial matches, the Englishman won all four Cups he played in, including the last time the Europeans won in the U.S. in 2012 at Medinah.

With a 10-4-1 career record, Donald led the Europeans off in singles in 2012 with his team down 10 to 6 and won the first singles match Sunday over Bubba Watson to start an avalanche of blue that eventually resulted in a 14½ to 13½ win, the largest comeback victory by Europe in Ryder Cup history.

“I think playing away brings different approaches and different challenges,” Donald said. “Again, you’re going to have to deal with the crowd; you’re going to have to deal with the U.S. setting up the golf course. There are things that we had control of that we certainly don't have control of this time.”

Donald believes he will have to use a different approach that he used in Rome, and, like he has done in his career, the 45-year-old will apply a growth mindset and try to figure out how he and the team can be better than they were.

The difficulty of playing away from home has been obvious for the U.S., as it hasn’t won a road game since 1993 at The Belfry.

In that same 30-year period, from 1993 through 2023, Europe has won three times here: in 1995 at Oak Hill, 2004 at Oakland Hills and ’12 at Medinah, giving Donald a base to build on for ’25.

“Even when I was lifting the trophy on Sunday and hearing the guys shout ‘Two more years,’ in the back of my mind, I thought, I don’t really want to let these guys down, but I still wanted some time to think about it,” Donald said.

“So, I’m very interested in trying to create some history. To be only the second Ryder Cup captain, European Ryder Cup captain, to possibly go back-to-back is something that’s very interesting to me and a great challenge and excites me.”

Tony Jacklin, who won the 1985 Ryder Cup at The Belfry over a Lee Trevino–captained team and in ’87 at Muirfield Village over Jack Nicklaus’s squad, is the only European Ryder Cup captain to win consecutive matches.

The Donald selection puts the PGA of America on the clock to select its next captain.

While Tiger Woods’s name has been bandied about as the next USA skipper, that decision doesn’t appear to be coming anytime soon. And whoever is on the other side, Donald seems nonplussed.

“Tiger’s been mentioned as a possible candidate, and we’ll have to wait and see. If it’s him great; if it’s someone else, great,” Donald said. “In the meantime, my role is to try and, again, start the preparations and try and figure out the best opportunity for us to be successful again come September in 2025 in New York. So that’s really my focus.”