Luke Donald’s predictable Ryder Cup picks spark DP World Tour backlash

One DP World Tour star was angry with Luke Donald's Ryder Cup picks.

Luke Donald has kept faith with familiar faces from his 2023 Ryder Cup-winning formula, but not everyone is applauding his loyalty.

European captain Luke Donald has confirmed his six wildcard picks for Bethpage Black, completing a Ryder Cup team that looks strikingly familiar to the side that beat the US in Rome. Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, and Ludvig Aberg join automatic qualifiers Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre, and Rasmus Hojgaard. The only change from 2023 sees Rasmus Hojgaard replace his twin brother Nicolai. Continuity, yes – but also controversy.

Pablo Larrazabal, a nine-time DP World Tour winner who has never played in a Ryder Cup, wasted no time in letting Donald know what he thought of the decision.

“0’0 players that play European Tour schedule, so what’s the point?” he posted on X. “Marco Penge deserved a pick and Wallace deserved a pick but only 12 men play. Good luck in NJ.”

(NJ, New York… close enough.)

Larrazabal further twisted the knife with a sarcastic suggestion about one 61-year-old star.

“If you want experience in the Ryder Cup, why are you not taking Miguel Angel Jiménez, who won four times this year and is not going to miss a shot?”

Does Larrazabal have a point?

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for Matt Wallace, who broke down in Switzerland last week after another near miss and admitted Bethpage had been his target all year. Wallace congratulated the team with grace, but the pain was clear. “It was a combination of any final chance slipping away and coming up short in a tournament I have come to love and was desperate to defend,” he said, explaining his tears after the European Masters.

Others will feel aggrieved too. Penge’s rapid rise deserved recognition. Harry Hall has been one of the PGA Tour’s more consistent performers.

But Bethpage is going to be brutal, hostile, and very, very loud. Donald is betting that the same battle-tested core can silence the crowd again, rather than taking a chance on in-form rookies. Whether he’s right – or whether Europe’s future should already be knocking on the door – is a question we’ll only get answered in New York.

Donald defended his picks by pointing to “experience and proven partnerships,” which, on paper, is hard to argue with. But Larrazabal’s comments highlight an uncomfortable truth: Europe’s flagship tour is barely represented. This is, in many ways, a PGA Tour team dressed in blue and gold.

How Ryder Cup points are awarded – and why it favors PGA Tour players

Larrazabal’s gripe isn’t just emotional – the numbers back him up. The current points system makes it almost impossible for DP World Tour players to keep pace with their PGA Tour counterparts.

Here are the amounts of points available to the field in each of the different qualifying events:

• Major Championships: 5,000 points

• 2025 PGA Tour Signature events / The Players / FedExCup Playoffs: 3,000 points

• DP World Tour Rolex Series events: 2,000 points

• 2025 PGA Tour regular FedExCup events: 2,000 points

• DP World Tour ‘Back 9’ events: 1,500 points

• DP World Tour ‘Global Series’ events: 1,000 points

• 2025 PGA TOUR ‘Opposite’ events: 1,000 points

A player playing exclusively on the DP World Tour would have to perform significantly better than a player on the PGA Tour to match their points total.

Luke Donald doesn’t see a problem. “We pretty much got the qualification system correct,” he said.

For Donald, the system has delivered a team he trusts. For the DP World Tour, it’s a brutal reminder of its shrinking role: Europe’s flagship circuit is supplying fewer Ryder Cuppers than ever, and risks becoming little more than a feeder tour to the PGA Tour.

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