All of the surnames are the same as Luke Donald will bring 11 of the players who thumped the United States in Rome two years ago to the Ryder Cup later this month at Bethpage Black.
Donald, the European captain for a second time, announced his six at-large picks on Monday at a news conference outside of London and all of them were part of the 16 ½ to 11 ½ victory two years ago at Marco Simone Golf Club.
Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick were named to the team.
Those six players join automatic qualifiers Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Rasmus Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton.
The only difference in the team is Rasmus Hojgaard, who qualified on points at the British Masters two weeks ago and replaces his twin brother, Nicolai, who played on the winning side in Rome but did not make the squad this time.
There had been some question about Straka’s participation given a personal matter that kept him from competing at the BMW Championship two weeks ago, an ordinary performance at the Tour Championship and his decision to skip next week’s BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour, where the rest of the team will compete.
But Donald named Straka his third choice on Monday and he appeared as part of a teleconference announcing the picks.
The Europeans are attempting to win in the United States for the first time since a historic comeback win at Medinah in 2012. That is the last time either side won an away match. U.S. captain Keegan Bradley was part of that losing U.S. team.
Several members of the European team, including McIlroy, Rahm, Hovland, Lowry, Fitzpatrick and Fleetwood, were part of the losing team in 2021 at Whistling Straits.
“Without speaking too much about the results from ’21, it was very valuable to me from one perspective of getting to be in a team room with legends of the game,” Hovland said. “And just in that team environment and play against a very demanding U.S. crowd, especially when we didn’t really have any fans there. In ’23, on the other side of the pond, I was way more ready for the experience. But I think we’re all going to be ready when we stand on the first tee.”
The team is expected to arrive in New York three weeks from Monday. The Ryder Cup is Sept. 26-28.
“I feel amazingly proud of these guys and who well they played,” Donald said. “Obviously a lot of continuity from Rome. That’s unusual to have so many coming back. It shows how good these players are. This is a different animal to play in America. I’ve looked at a lot of different angles to get this team prepared.”
Source link
