Luke Donald will be putting the final touches on his preparation for the Ryder Cup, where his European side take on Keegan Bradley’s America.
Donald has added fuel to the Ryder Cup fire just ahead of the event, which starts on Friday at Bethpage Black in New York.
It comes after his star man Rory McIlroy was blasted by fans for his comments on Bryson DeChambeau, which have also played a part in a highly anticipated Ryder Cup.
McIlroy was the first player to qualify for the European team, and was followed by the likes of Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood.
They’ve made just one change from their winning side from Rome in 2023, with Rasmus Hojgaard replacing his brother Nicolai.
Luke Donald gives away tactic European players have for the American Ryder Cup fans
The US may have an idea of Donald’s pairings for New York, but the captain has now revealed another part of his strategy that does not directly involve their opponents.
He was asked by reporters ahead of the tournament how important McIlroy is for the side, and indeed how motivated he is to finish his season on a high, to which Donald replied: “Yeah, I think Rory has talked about this many times.
“He loves what the Ryder Cup represents. You can see the emotion both ways. When he lost in Wisconsin the tears were flowing, how he felt like as the player he is, he’s a leader for the team, that he needed to play better and he felt like he let himself down and the team.
“That’s kind of the brotherhood we have in our team. He sees himself as a leader but also just one of 12. We try and talk about that a lot.
“We all have an opportunity to contribute to the team. To have someone of his calibre, though, what he’s achieved in the game is tremendous.
“But for him, Ryder Cups are very, very important. He talked about how difficult it is to win an away Ryder Cup, and I think if he was able to be on this team, on a winning team, that would make this year even better than what he’s already done.”
And when asked if he’s talked to his team about a ‘kindness offensive’ this week, with the European players having already engaged with fans and signed autographs for them, he said: “Yeah, we’re the visitors.
“Again, we’re trying to just be respectful to the crowd and just do whatever we can to be our best selves and play our best golf.
“I’m very lucky as a captain; this isn’t a team I’ve had to really try and form. But I feel like we have a bunch of really solid guys with good values.
“They’re out there to be entertaining. They’re out there to play great golf. They understand how important the fans are.”
What Luke Donald wanted for potential Ryder Cup rookies ahead of Bethpage Black
The European team have prepared for noise at Bethpage Black, with the away side certain to receive a hostile welcome from the home fans.
Such preparations have involved the use of virtual reality headsets that simulated what such noise could sound like, with Donald saying of that idea: “Again, when we came up with that idea, it was just one idea in a multitude of ideas to get these guys ready.
“At the beginning of a qualification, you expect there to be a bunch of rookies that have not played a Ryder Cup before.
“Again, this was really aimed at some of those, maybe some that have never played an away Ryder Cup. But we actually in the end have a team that, one, has quite a lot of experience being together, and has played quite a few away Ryder Cups as well.
“I think it was aimed at, again, just trying to give those rookies an experience and a feeling of what that first tee might feel like.”
It is indeed only Hojgaard who is flying the flag for European rookies at Bethpage, in stark contrast with the hosts.
United States captain Bradley has made the somewhat bold call of handing debuts to Cameron Young, Ben Griffin, Russell Henley and J.J. Spaun.
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