Luke Donald named European Ryder Cup Captain for 2025

“Great opportunities don’t come along very often in life.”

Luke Donald has been named as the European Captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York.

The 45-year-old Englishman returns to the role having led Europe to a 16½ – 11½ victory against the United States in the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy, earlier this year.

He will become Europe’s first repeat captain since Bernard Gallacher performed the role in three consecutive Ryder Cups in 1991, 1993 and 1995.

Donald will be aiming to become only the second captain to lead Europe to victories both home and away, following Tony Jacklin, who achieved the double at Muirfield Village in Ohio in 1987, retaining the Ryder Cup following his team’s victory two years previously at The Belfry, in England, in 1985.

“Great opportunities don’t come along very often in life, and I’m a great believer that when they do, you need to grab them with both hands – this is one of these moments,” Donald said. “I’ve been fortunate as a player to have had many amazing times in the Ryder Cup over the years and so to add being a winning Captain to that, to form bonds with the 12 players like we did in Italy and to get the result we did, was very special indeed.

“The Ryder Cup means so much to me, so to be Captain again and have the chance to create more history by becoming only the second European Captain to win back-to-back is exciting.

2023 Ryder Cup
Team Europe captain Luke Donald arrives at the first tee during day one foursomes round for the 44th Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

“There is no question that being a Captain away from home is a tough task. But I have never shied away from challenges throughout my career and it is precisely the kind of thing that motivates me. I can’t wait to get another 12-strong team to Bethpage in 2025.”

Initially, Donald was overlooked as 2023 Ryder Cup captain as Europe selected Sweden’s Henrik Stenson for the job, but Stenson was stripped of the honor when he bolted for LIV Golf, the upstart league. Donald was the second choice then, but he’s clearly the first choice now, and Team Europe decided not to wait to see whether any of the European players who departed for LIV and had previously appeared to be in the pipeline for captaincy, such as Lee Westwood or Ian Poulter, would return to the fold.

Donald was a member of the last European Team to win on American soil at Medinah Country Club in 2012, when he led Jose Maria Olazabal’s side out in the singles, securing the first blue point on the board in one of the most famous comebacks in the history of the biennial contest.

During his playing career, he represented Europe in the Ryder Cup four times as a player, being part of a winning team on all four occasions, contributing 10½ points from his 15 matches.

He then served as a vice captain in 2018, under Thomas Bjorn, and Padraig Harrington in 2021, before becoming captain for the first time at the 2023 contest in Rome.

Donald has won five times on the PGA Tour and another eight times on the DP World Tour and ascended to No. 1 in the world for a total of 56 weeks. In 2011, he became the first player in history to top the money lists on the European Tour (now the DP World Tour) and the PGA Tour in the same year.

“I have had a nice individual career; I have accomplished a significant amount as a player. My most special moments have been in The Ryder Cup editions, and being able to share that in a team atmosphere,” Donald said. “[Being captain] felt like a lifetime achievement award when I found out that I was given the honor and privilege to be nominated as captain. It is something that I do not take lightly. I think about it every day and more specifically around what we can do to give our team the best chance of success and to build that right culture and environment…Everyone knows how special The Ryder Cup has been as part of my career and this is an opportunity of a lifetime. It is a big responsibility but I am going to try and enjoy the journey.”

Schupak: Bring back the Pauls, McGinley in ’25, Azinger in ’27, and see if either of the best Ryder Cup captains can win on the road

“If LIV plucks a bunch of guys off of the Tour as is rumored, why would I even watch the Ryder Cup?”

Rory McIlroy put it best during Team Europe’s Ryder Cup winner’s press conference: Winning a Ryder Cup on the road may be the hardest thing to do in sports.

Considering that the U.S. side hasn’t won on European soil since 1993 and the Euros needed the Miracle at Medinah to rally from a 10-6 deficit to do so in 2012, McIlroy has a good argument. The home team has held serve ever since but more troubling is the fact that you have to go back to the 2012 edition of the biennial competition for the last time we didn’t have a blowout. Sundays have largely been a foregone conclusion as to which side is going to win.

Want to make the Ryder Cup great again? How about giving arguably the two best captains of the modern era another shot behind the wheel to see if either of them can win on the road. In other words, Paul McGinley, who guided the Euros to a beatdown of the Americans in Scotland in 2014, as Europe’s captain in 2025 at Bethpage, and Paul Azinger, who was brilliant at the helm in 2008 in Louisville, in 2027 in Ireland.

When I proposed this scenario to Azinger, he chuckled and said, “That would be awesome.”

“McGinley was a brilliant captain, he really was,” Azinger said. “There’s only so much a captain can do but he has a huge responsibility to create an environment, to create a message and get his players to out-prepare the other team. I might have said to this U.S. Ryder Cup team that if you were in the top six (an automatic qualifier to the team) do whatever you want, you made it, but the next six, you have to play the week before or two weeks before or I’m not going to pick you. That’s the way it is, sorry. You have to promise me you’re going to play. Everyone knew they didn’t play enough going in. That to me was the biggest way they out-prepared us.”

Europe players lift their captain Paul McGinley as he holds the trophy after winning the 2014 Ryder Cup.

Azinger laughed when I said let either Tiger Woods if he wants the job at Bethpage or Stewart Cink or even Fred Couples take a turn in 2025 but let’s get going on 2027 to end this seemingly endless losing streak on the road. The idea of taking another bite at the captaincy? He says that ship has passed.

“I lobbied in 2010 to carry the flag and win the cup on the road. The PGA of America told me, ‘There’s more captains than there are Ryder Cups.’ I said, ‘OK, that’s fine.’ They chose Corey Pavin. Then they get (Tom) Watson and (Davis) Love again. I wanted that challenge but it was 17 years earlier. I think I’m passed due. I’ll be 67. It’s not fair to a guy like Stewart Cink. I think he’ll be an awesome captain. I’d roll in as an assistant captain. They’ve got a clique going now. It’s the result of the Task Force. Sometimes cliques are incredible. Let’s not forget they won the last Cup by 10 points but I think it’s time to break the clique up…I worry that Tiger is going to want Freddie and Davis and Strick again. I would like to see a different group be in there as assistants that can be future captains.”

McGinley echoed a similar sentiment that his window for a return engagement as captain has closed.

“I think we’ve certainly nailed the home template but we haven’t written the template for away from home. I like the way you’re thinking but I think my ship has sailed in that regard. I’m 10 years aways from being a captain, I’m 56 years old, there’s a certain disconnection with the current crop of players,” he argued.

But McGinley, too, recognized that winning on the road has become the white whale for Ryder Cup captains and it was something he once desired.

“I think it so much more difficult away and I’d have loved to have written the away template but I thought it was greedy to go again,” he said. “I knew there were a lot of guys waiting patiently behind me and I thought it would be unfair to go again.”

But what once was a backlog of potential captains has become a shortage due to LIV, which wiped out Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Graeme McDowell and Paul Casey for Team Europe and Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and (eventually) Dustin Johnson from consideration. Let’s take this unique moment in time to determine once and for all which of these brilliant leaders of men can steer his team to victory away from home.

Azinger and McGinley both lived and breathed the job for two years and understood team dynamics better than anyone before or after in the captaincy role. Both are still active in their role as TV commentators and have a handle on the pulse of the game.

“I think I’d rather broadcast it, thank you, though,” Azinger said. “I think it’s really important at this point to have someone of their era who really knows the players.”

Who does he think should lead Europe into the hostile environment that will be Bethpage Black in 2025?

“It’s going to be contentious. Luke Donald is the perfect personality type. Otherwise, I would love to see Sergio (Garcia) but it will never happen. If I’m them, I’m bringing the most polished professional I can bring. If you can find anyone more polished and buttoned up than Luke, let me know,” he said.

“It wouldn’t be a big surprise if Luke was to go again,” McGinley added. “In an ideal world, you should do two captaincies – one home and one away. That would be a real test of the captain, wouldn’t it?”

Azinger expressed one concern for the Ryder Cup going forward: Will the U.S. be able to field its best team?

“I really fear for the next Ryder Cup,” he said. “If LIV plucks a bunch of guys off of the Tour as is rumored, why would I even watch the Ryder Cup? That’s the way I’m feeling about it. It’s just not America vs Europe anymore. I mean, it is, but it wouldn’t be our best players. I fear for the Ryder Cup because of LIV.”

You heard it here first: McGinley in ’25, Azinger in ’27. Let’s settle who is the best captain once and for all.

Where to play golf around New York City: Golfweek’s Best 2023 public-access courses

The best golf courses within two hours of New York City include layouts in four states.

nLooking for the best public-access golf around New York City? If you’re willing to drive a bit, there are more than a dozen courses available that appear on the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top public-access layouts in each state.

But it’s not as easy as pulling up our state-by-state rankings, because the Big Apple sits at a crossroads of states and golfers frequently cross state lines to find a game. This list includes courses in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

How’d we come up with that? For the purpose of this exercise, we limited driving time to two hours from the city, with LaGuardia Airport as a starting point.

Why two hours? Because it takes awhile to get around New York, of course, and two hours seemed like a reasonable amount of time in a car to reach great golf.

And why LaGuardia? Because that airport is a fair starting point for the courses to the north and those out to the west. (We used Google Maps for its drive times, keying in LaGuardia on a mid-afternoon that showed no significant traffic slowdowns; take all drive times around New York with a grain of salt, of course, as backups can be considerable.)

Included with this list is a general map of where to find all these courses. Each one on the list below is represented with a number on the map – keep scrolling to see the numbers. These numbers are not intended to be a ranking of the best courses around New York, but simply indicate their position on the map.

However, included with each course is its position in its state on the Golfweek’s Best public-access list. For courses that appear on other popular rankings lists, those positions are included as well.

A little background: The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

The courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required.

New York City Golfweek's Best map
(Google Earth/Golfweek)

A close match, new Captain America and more way too early predictions for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black

Is the Ryder Cup due for a close contest? Which new stars will shine? Will fans become a storyline?

Is it 2025 yet?

For golf fans across the globe the countdown to the 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York, has already started despite the fact the 44th playing of the biennial bash between the United States and Europe is just one day in the rearview mirror.

For American fans, they want to wash away the embarrassing performance at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy last week. As for the European supporters, they want to ride the momentum of another win at home and avenge the historic loss at Whistling Straits in 2021.

A lot can happen over two years, especially in golf, but don’t let that get in the way of a fun thought exercise. Here are some way, way too early predictions for the 2025 Ryder Cup.

MORE: Changes afoot for USA | How players fared in ’23 | Future sites

[afflinkbutton text=”Book your trip to Bethpage for the Ryder Cup” link=”https://www.golfbreaks.com/en-us/tournaments/the-ryder-cup/?cid=999741185&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=golfweek&utm_campaign=ryder_cup_2025_q4_23_gw”]

Future Ryder Cup sites through 2037

Seven future Ryder Cup sites have been announced through 2037.

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/JGRH7YoBLH5_irLuYq4-/1696198358368_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0iampkdmVzYnhsZnh1ZXRjaWd2cHdzNHNtb3ZteGNuYm4iIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNyI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]

The Ryder Cup was first contested in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The U.S. was captained by Walter Hagen and the Americans won 9 ½ to 2 ½.

In 2023, two years after getting routed 19-9 at Whistling Straits, the Europeans reclaimed the Ryder Cup, sweeping the first four matches on Thursday and riding a wave to a 16 ½ to 11 ½ victory.

[afflinkbutton text=”Book your trip to Bethpage for the Ryder Cup” link=”https://www.golfbreaks.com/en-us/tournaments/the-ryder-cup/?cid=999741185&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=golfweek&utm_campaign=ryder_cup_2025_q4_23_gw”]

Future Ryder Cup sites have been announced through 2037.

The Ryder Cup shifted back to odd years starting in 2021.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020: New York

The Black course at Bethpage State Park is No. 1 on the list of of Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020: New York.

Each year, we publish the three lists that are the foundation of our course-ratings program: Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 200 Classic Courses, Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 200 Modern Courses and Golfweek’s Best 2020: Best Courses You Can Play.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020 in New York

  1. Bethpage State Park (Black), Farmingdale (No. 27 c)
  2. Trump Golf Links Ferry Point, New York (m)
  3. Turning Stone Resort (Atunyote), Verona (m)
  4. Leatherstocking, Cooperstown (c)
  5. Sagamore, Bolton Landing (c)
  6. Pound Ridge GC, Pound Ridge (m)
  7. Montauk Downs State Park, Montauk Point (m)
  8. Bethpage State Park (Red), Farmingdale (c)
  9. Turning Stone Resort (Shenendoah), Verona (m)
  10. Conklin Players Club, Conklin (m)
  11. Turning Stone Resort (Kaluhyat), Verona (m)
  12. Saratoga National, Saratoga (m)
  13. *Links at Union Vale, Lagrangeville (m)
  14. *Centennial, Carmel (m)
  15. Seneca Hickory Stick, Lewiston (m)

*New to the list in 2020

(m): modern
(c): classic

Golfweek’s Best Private Courses 2020 in New York

  1. Shinnecock Hills, Southampton (No. 4 c)
  2. National Golf Links of America, Southampton (No. 5 c)
  3. Fishers Island Club, Fishers Island (No. 10 c)
  4. Friar’s Head, Baiting Hollow (No. 3 m)
  5. Winged Foot (West), Mamaroneck (No. 16 c)
  6. Sebonack, Southampton (No. 6 m)
  7. Quaker Ridge, Scarsdale (No. 28 c)
  8. Garden City GC, Garden City (No. 29 c)
  9. Maidstone Club, East Hampton (No. 30 c)
  10. Winged Foot (East), Mamaroneck (No. 35 c)

* New or returning to the list; c: Classic, built before 1960. m: Modern, built in 1960 or after

Golfweek’s Best 2020

How we rate them

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.

Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private courses in New York

New York features the deepest lineup of elite private clubs in the United States.

Bethpage State Park’s Black Course, site of two U.S. Opens (2002, ’09) and one PGA Championship (2019) as well as the next Ryder Cup (2025) in the U.S., is the top-rated public-access golf course in New York.

Built by famed course designer A.W. Tillinghast in 1935, the Black is almost as famous for its sign on the first tee that warns players that the test they are about to face is “extremely difficult.” And besides ranking No. 1 among New York’s public courses, the Black is No. 27 on the 2002 Golfweek’s Best list for all classic courses built in the U.S. before 1960.

It’s hardly alone as a top-tier course in New York, particularly when private courses are considered. New York offers the deepest lineup of exceptional private courses in the country, and each of the top 20 private clubs in the state ranks in the top 100 on either Golfweek’s Best modern or classic lists.

Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with that of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list for New York’s prestigious private offerings is likewise included below.

MORE: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 ResortTop 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play

(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960
(c): Classic course, built before 1960

Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses. 

* New to or returning to list

A.W. Tillinghast on a budget: Private Ridgewood CC shines for U.S. Amateur, but there are public Tillie options

Check out these A.W. Tillinghast courses open to the public.

With the U.S. Amateur this week at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, fans have their latest in a string of opportunities to see the work of Hall of Fame architect A.W. Tillinghast. After about a century — and with some celebrated restorations — many of these tracks still provide stern championship tests. As with most of Golfweek’s Best top classic courses, they stir something in the soul.

And although most of Tillie’s gems are behind private gates, public golfers need neither highfalutin connections nor deep pockets to experience the old genius’ nuances.

First among options is the cathedral of municipal golf, Bethpage State Park on Long Island. Bethpage has the highest concentration of publicly available Tillinghast holes anywhere. All five courses on the property have at least some Tillie holes. While the major-championship mainstay Black Course garners most of the attention, the state park as a whole offers a comprehensive view of Tillinghast’s ability to design holes for players of all abilities across varying topography.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2022: Top 100 U.S. public-access courses ranked

Where are the best places you can play golf in the U.S.? Our rankings of the best 100 public courses for 2022 will be your guide.

Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of the Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S.

Each year we publish many lists, with this selection of public-access layouts among the premium offerings. Also extremely popular and significant are the lists for Top 200 Classic Courses, Top 200 Modern Courses, the Best Courses You Can Play State by State and Best Private Courses State by State.

The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.

All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.

KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.

* Indicates new to or returning to this list.

Golf architecture: The ‘Great Hazard’ undergoes a renaissance, with modern designers rethinking, restoring classical cross bunkers

Modern designers are restoring and often rethinking Great Hazards, those giant cross bunkers with oversized impact on strategy.

One of early American golf architecture’s most dramatic design features is being reinvigorated for the modern game. 

Inner-circle Hall of Fame architect A.W. Tillinghast pioneered the “Great Hazard,” a massive expanse of wasteland usually set in the middle of a par 5. He often coupled this with a smaller but still gnarly bunker complex at the front of the green. In combination, this system demands a series of great shots, whether the player is going for the green in two, three or even four strokes. 

The smallest imprecision off the tee forces the player to recalculate the odds all along the way. Four shots, including a punch-out and back-to-back layups, may be required to hopscotch up to the green. The overconfident player who mismanages the percentages could be in for a huge number. 

But over the past century, players and equipment have evolved to the point that many of the original Great Hazards no longer threaten the tactical headlocks their creator intended. Longer hitters simply blast over the wasteland to set up an approach with a lofted club over the greenside bunker complex. 

That’s why architect Gil Hanse, who has restored about a half-dozen Tillinghast designs in New York and New Jersey, made major changes to No. 17 on Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. Hanse moved the network of fairway-interrupting bunkers and tall-grass islands downrange some 40 yards,  with the leftmost portion potentially gobbling drives and the rightmost path offering the most aggressive line to the green. Either way, it’s a big carry out of or over the hazard. 

“When you have big hazards, they ask big questions,” Hanse said. “They ask you to make big decisions. In this day and age, accomplished golfers were able to drive it into the (Great Hazard). That’s why the shift occurred. If you get out of position, now the positioning of the hazard is you have to hit a monumentally good shot to get over.” 

Indeed, be anywhere but perfect and you’re blocked out and hitting sideways, setting up a third shot with a long iron or wood, uphill to a raised, multi-tiered green with intimidating bunkers in front and left. Throw in three bunkers that protect the second layup area, and it makes a hole the pros might not often birdie when the PGA Championship returns to Baltusrol in 2029. 

Hanse said the original hazard at Baltusrol had become smaller over time. He used Tillinghast’s plans and photos from the early years to reestablish the scale and dimensions of the original work, but he moved it to the new, more strategically demanding position. 

The Great Hazard on. No. 17 on Baltusrol’s Lower Course (Courtesy of Baltusrol/Evan Schiller)

“Moving the Great Hazard exemplified Gil Hanse’s statement of a ‘sympathetic restoration,’ ” said Baltusrol club president Matt Wirths, who worked closely with Hanse on the exacting details of the project. “It restored a signature design element of a Tillinghast course, but in a way that recognizes the changes that have taken place since the original hole was built.” 

And it’s not just Baltusrol. Great Hazard holes are being rediscovered, reinvented and stiffened at courses around the country.