European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald is playing the underdog card.
Donald is back for a second tour of duty, but this time he faces the unenviable task of attempting to win on the road when the biennial competition resumes Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black in Farmington, New York.
The home team has won the last five editions of the Ryder Cup, which is why Donald claims one of the hardest things to do is win an away Ryder Cup and his side – despite winning 10 of the last 14 matches – will be the underdog.
“When you’re playing an away Ryder Cup, I think you have to be the underdog,” said Donald, who was a competitor in 2012, the last time Europe won on foreign soil, during a press conference on Tuesday in New York. “Just looking historically, Whistling Straits, the result there was very one-sided, Hazeltine was pretty one-sided, Valhalla. We were fortunate to come back at Medinah but the last few times we’ve played away the results have been pretty one-sided towards the U.S., so, yes, in a tough environment we will be the underdogs.”
U.S. Captain Keegan Bradley wasn’t buying that line of thinking.
“These guys really love playing for Luke, and they’re going to love coming into Bethpage and try to shut up the fans. It’s a very unifying thing to be on a team and come into a hostile environment,” said Bradley, who won the clinching point on foreign soil recently at the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal in Canada. “We know how tough they are, we know how great of match play players they are and how much they care about the Ryder Cup. The home team has a bit of an advantage but they get to come in us against the world and that’s always tough to play against.”
Both captains addressed the possibility of a “hostile environment” in New York crossing the line into inappropriate and unruly behavior. Bradley dubbed the fans as “part of the team” and expects them to be “loud and proud” and passionate supporters, but also respectful to the other team. He noted precautions will be in place with decorum monitors inside the ropes who will remove any bad apples from the crowd.
“Listen, you come into Yankee Stadium, you come into Madison Square Garden, you come into these places, it’s a tough place to play and Luke and the boys know that,” Bradley said. “I have totally faith in the fans. They’re going to be loud and they’re going to be passionate and PGA of America is going to do a great job to make sure everything is right.”
“The Ryder Cup is special because it is spirited, passions are high, energy is high,” Donald said. “You don’t want to see the spirit of the Ryder Cup endangered…we’re looking forward to playing in front of a New York crowd. It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be feisty, it’s going to be spirited.”
“It’s really important to us, the U.S. side, that it is a fair place to play for both teams,” Bradley added. “Nobody on either team wants this to get uncomfortable or weird out there.”
There wasn’t much news shared by either captain. Bradley did confirm he will be keeping the same point system in place for the six automatic qualifiers and he will stick with six captain’s picks. He also reiterated he will have to make the top six in order to be a playing captain.
“It’s always a goal of mine to play on the Ryder Cup teams. It’s so far off now that I’m not going to worry about it. Once we get closer to the tournament and I’m up there on the points list, we’ll start to think about it. I’m focused now on being the captain of the team, and that’s it,” Bradley said.
He also said with the Presidents Cup behind him, he would be announcing his remaining vice captains in the coming month, and didn’t dispel the notion of taking either winning Presidents Cup captain Jim Furyk or 2019 Presidents Cup captain Tiger Woods.
When asked about choosing LIV players, Bradley repeated his usual line that he wants “the 12 best players” on his team. Donald said any players will have to adhere to the DP Tour’s rules. He has been in constant contact with the likes of Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia and that as long as they follow the rules in place for DP World Tour members, he will consider them for the team. Garcia, for one, would need to rejoin the circuit to garner consideration. Of Rahm, who played in the Spanish Open recently and lost in a playoff, Donald said, “It was great to see him do what he needed to do to remain eligible.”
Bradley and Donald both said they would like their teams to bond ahead of the Ryder Cup next year. Many of the members of the U.S. team came into the last Ryder Cup in Italy rusty with too long of a layoff between the conclusion of the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup.
“We’re talking all options with the guys. I’m not going to tell a grown man what they have to do and what they don’t have to do, but the boys are really interested in coming in prepared,” Bradley said. “There are a couple of options for that. One is going to play, one is all getting together and having some matches but we’re going to take some measures to be prepared to play.”