Luke Donald names captain’s picks to complete European Ryder Cup team for Bethpage showdown

And the Team Europe captain’s picks making up the 12 that will look to retain the trophy in New York are…

Well, that was a lot more straightforward.

After the will-he-won’t-he drama of whether or not Keegan Bradley was going to put himself on his United States side, Luke Donald has quietly gone about building a team he believes will bring the Samuel Ryder Trophy back across the Atlantic for the first time since 2012.

The Englishman has yet to taste defeat at a Ryder Cup, putting 10.5 points from a possible 15 across four victorious appearances in the competition before leading the side to glory in Rome two years ago.

It earned Donald the chance to repeat the feat at Bethpage later this month.

And – along with the six automatic qualifiers in Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, and Rasmus Hojgaard – these are the players in whom he will put all his faith…

Team Europe captain’s picks

In order of how they finished in the qualification process, Donald’s six wildcard picks are…

1. Shane Lowry

Qualifying position: 7th
Ryder Cup appearances: 2
Ryder Cup record: 2-3-1

An absolute no-brainer. Knocked out of the automatic qualifying spots by Rasmus Hojgaard at the very last hurdle, but the Irishman was a tour de force in Rome, and his experience and personality will be hugely beneficial as the Europeans look to escape the bear pit that is Bethpage Black and the infamous New York crowd.

2. Sepp Straka

Qualifying position: 8th
Ryder Cup appearances: 1
Ryder Cup record: 1-2-0

A strong first half of the year, in which he won twice on the PGA Tour, was enough to convince Donald to give Straka another shot – but three missed cuts and a T52 at the majors, as well as a slump in form toward the end of the season, will be a concern. That said, the Austrian’s experience of playing – and winning – Stateside will be crucial at Bethpage.

3. Ludvig Aberg

Qualifying position: 9th
Ryder Cup appearances: 1
Ryder Cup record: 2-2-0

The Swede has by no means had the season he would have hoped, though he did win at the Genesis Invitational and challenged for the Green Jacket before graciously stepping aside to let Rory McIlroy complete the Grand Slam. European fans will be hoping for a repeat of Rome, where the formidable Aberg and Viktor Hovland left Scottie Scheffler in tears. Speaking of which…

4. Viktor Hovland

Qualifying position: 10th
Ryder Cup appearances: 2 
Ryder Cup record: 3-4-3

A much better season that saw him back in the winner’s circle at the Valspar and competing for majors again – including a 3rd-place at the US Open. Will almost certainly play both rounds of fourballs alongside Ludvig Aberg before going out in one of the opening singles matches, hoping to get an early point on the board.

5. Matt Fitzpatrick

Qualifying position: 11th
Ryder Cup appearances: 3
Ryder Cup record: 1-7-0

Recent form to move into the top 12 in qualifying has been the biggest factor in Fitz’s pick. While the Englishman’s Ryder Cup record is dreadful in black and white, he can consider himself incredibly unfortunate that his first two appearances in the matches happened to be the poorly-managed thrashings at Hazeltine and Whistling Straits. If ever there was a time to get that monkey off his back, it’s now. (Well, later this month.)

6. Jon Rahm

Qualifying position: 24th
Ryder Cup appearances: 3 
Ryder Cup record: 6-3-3

The lowest-ranked qualifier due to his move to LIV shortly after the Rome matches, but almost certainly top of the locks when it came to Luke Donald’s picks. An absolute tour de force in this competition. Most notably, the Spaniard put three and a half points on the board in Wisconsin four years ago – almost 40% of the European team’s total – and only Dustin Johnson outscored him. Don’t bet against him top-scoring in New York.

Who missed out?

Among the unlucky players who won’t be headed to Bethpage are Matt Wallace, Marco Penge, and Harry Hall.

As the only player inside the top 12 of the European qualification standings, Wallace can feel particularly aggrieved. The Englishman struggled to hide his emotion following a runner-up finish at the European Masters. “I’ll never give up on the Ryder Cup,” he said. “I just won’t.”

Penge, who finished 8th in Switzerland and has won twice in a season that began with a three-month suspension, said: “It’s just great to be in the conversation, to be honest. At the start of the year I was nowhere near thinking about Ryder Cup and [I have] only just missed out, so there’s a lot of confidence to take from that.”

Hall will also feel he was in with a shot, having finished in the top 25 in 11 of his 12 starts since May – the other being a T28 at The Open. Penge and Hall finished 14th and 17th in qualifying respectively.

Meanwhile, Nicolai Hojgaard is the only member of the European team that won in Rome to not be part of the title defence in New York.

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