ROME, ITALY | Luke Donald walked quietly and calmly in from the gathering dusk to the tent where his teammates were assembled on either side of his seat, which, as befitting the winning captain, was front and centre. In his right hand, he held the famous golden chalice that Europe had regained a couple of hours earlier, and now he raised it above his head in a rare moment of triumphalism.
Asked for his reaction to his team’s performance and 16½-11½ victory in the 44th Ryder Cup, he gave a quintessential Donald response. “We did all right,” he said on Sunday with a face straighter than a putter before pausing to allow his humour to sink in. “Not many gave us a chance, I don’t think, especially two years ago. Yeah, well, we proved them wrong.”
Generals devising strategy have spent less time on their planning battles than Donald did this success. From the moment he was appointed to lead Europe, he was on top of everything, exuding a quiet confidence and a steely determination. Bernhard Langer in 2004, with almost a stereotypical German thoroughness, is generally held up as being the most thorough and most detailed of European captains in this millennium. Donald may have eclipsed him.
What is the magic ingredient that has made Europe so successful in recent times? It was Europe’s eighth victory of the 11 to have been played in the 21st century. Justin Rose spoke of how they played not just for themselves but also for those people who meant a lot to them. Jon Rahm echoed this point, adding the names of his Spanish predecessors Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal and Sergio García as being his heroes.
“... it’s really, really important to not just play for each other but play for those that mean the most to you..”
Luke Donald
For Donald, this meant his parents, both of whom are deceased.
“They were super supportive, but golf wasn’t everything to them,” he said. “They always really believed in me that – to have a balanced life, enjoy golf but enjoy other things in life as well. Yeah, they would be very proud of me. More for the fact, not that we won; more for the fact that – just the way I kind of went about the captaincy, I suppose.
“I miss them, of course,” and here he began to struggle with his emotions and Shane Lowry placed a comforting hefty hand on Donald’s shoulder. “I would have loved to share this moment with them. I think some of the things that we talked about as a group was, it’s really, really important to not just play for each other but play for those that mean the most to you. I think that’s super powerful. You know, I gave the guys some videos on Monday. Just some people that mean a lot to them, two-minute videos, really giving them encouragement. I think that’s why we always play this game.”
Then he paid tribute to his vice captains, though he saved his most fulsome praise for Edoardo Molinari, known as Dodo, an exceptional statistician.
“I think the game of golf has really become dominated with statistics, but you know, all my vice captains were immense and literally got so much from Thomas Bjørn, our past captain,” Donald said. “He’s been there before, a winning captain. José María was extremely inspirational. He doesn’t speak much … but when he does, we all listen. There’s a deathly silence in the room, in our team room, when he speaks, and it was amazing.
“Nicolas Colsaerts has the biggest heart I know, and this Ryder Cup means so much to him. Francesco [Molinari, Edoardo’s younger brother] as well. Every single one of them meant so much to me and were a big help.
“But obviously Dodo, I probably spent a little bit more time just because of the statistics, because of trying to figure out ways to tell all my guys why they were going to win. [I wanted to] … give them the confidence so that when they stepped on that tee on Friday, they expected to win. These are the reasons, and this is why you play and this is why we are going to be successful by the end of this week.”
But even with endless strategies, Donald’s calmness and quiet confidence must have been tested during more than two hours of Sunday’s play midway through the day. Overnight Europe led 10½-5½ and needed only four points for victory. To deny Europe, the U.S. would have to mount the biggest-ever comeback to retain the trophy which they had won two years ago at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
At first, Europe raced into early leads, sprinters scorching out of their blocks. Rahm, the team’s heartbeat, was 2 up after five holes, and behind him, Viktor Hovland, a smiling assassin for his home continent, was 3 up after seven holes. Rahm halved, Hovland won comfortably and McIlroy was never down. And soon, Tyrrell Hatton beat the U.S. bulldog, Brian Harman, the Open champion. Victory was so near, it was almost tangible.
Then came the U.S. fight back. For two or three hours, it looked as though the Americans might be able to achieve a remarkable turnaround. In that time, one European player after another fell back and was overtaken or could not retain his lead. Justin Rose fought bravely but found Patrick Cantlay’s putting skills better than his own. Matthew Fitzpatrick had a putt to get the elusive half point, but lost to Max Homa’s par on the 18th, which included a penalty stroke. Homa was the only American to play all five matches.
“Everyone sitting here wants to have him again in two years..”
RORY McILROY, on a return captaincy for Luke Donald
Xander Schauffele defeated Nicolai Højgaard. Brooks Koepka led from the first hole against Ludvig Åberg and won, 3 and 2. Justin Thomas birdied the 18th to defeat Sepp Straka, doing a mock tip of the cap as he had been doing all afternoon in support of Cantlay.
Finally, Tommy Fleetwood put Donald and the Americans out of their collective misery. A magnificent drive to the drivable yet well-guarded 16th will remain in Fleetwood’s mind for years to come. Moments earlier, opponent Rickie Fowler had driven into the guardian pond and ultimately would concede the hole. This meant Fleetwood was 2 up with two holes remaining and could not lose, and that in turn meant Europe would get its clinching half point. Technically the score remained the same because if for some reason something had happened to Fleetwood – disqualification, perhaps – then Europe still would not have won.
Some moments later, Lowry became assured of at least a half, too. Lowry is a burly man with an obvious sense of exuberance, plus one of the best short games in the world. He was 3 down to Jordan Spieth after five holes, but as he waxed, Spieth waned. Lowry, too, got to dormie 1 up on the 17th, and Irish celebrations, though slightly premature, began. Could one ever forget the sight of Rory McIlroy racing to jump into Lowry’s arms when it was over?
So ended perhaps 100 minutes of anguish for Donald and all those of a European persuasion, and there seemed to be thousands of them on the grounds at Marco Simone. Sunburned, tired but ecstatic they did their party trick of lionising European team members in song.
Will Donald – who was Europe’s second choice after Henrik Stenson vacated the post when he abandoned the tour to join LIV Golf – be asked to lead Europe on its next Ryder Cup assignment, to Bethpage Black in New York in two years? It is a foregone conclusion, though due process will have to be gone through.
“Everyone sitting here wants to have him again in two years,” McIlroy interjected, and as he did so, a murmur of approving grunts arose from his teammates.
Donald blushed slightly and bowed his head. As well as being quiet and understated, he is modest.
“Listen, I want to enjoy this moment right now with these guys,” he said at which a cry of “come on” was heard from a player.
“Anyway, I haven’t been asked yet,” Donald said.
The man deserves it. Accolades surely will follow this well thought out and skilfully executed campaign, but if Donald is not captain at the next Ryder Cup, it will be more of a surprise than a player missing an 18-inch putt.
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: Luke Donald basks on top of the world in the Roman sunset after a successful Ryder Cup captaincy.
RICHARD HEATHCOTE, GETTY IMAGES