Luke Donald singles out one European player who has really impressed him ahead of the 2025 Ryder Cup

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The 2025 Ryder Cup is rapidly approaching, with Team Europe captain Luke Donald set to use this week’s Team Cup as preparation.

Team Great Britain & Ireland captain Justin Rose loves the Team Cup locker room, with the Englishman taking over from compatriot Tommy Fleetwood in the role.

Fleetwood lost to Francesco Molinari’s Continental Europe at the inaugural Team Cup in 2023, with the victors triumphing 14½-10½.

The Team Cup returns to Abu Dhabi, where Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald will be overseeing proceedings at the DP World Tour event.

It is a fantastic opportunity for players to impress the European skipper, with six of the 2023 Team Cup players making his successful Ryder Cup team later that year.

Luke Donald singles out Nicolai Hojgaard ahead of 2025 Ryder Cup

Four of those were captain’s picks, with Donald now highlighting the display of Nicolai Hojgaard, who was a late call-up in Abu Dhabi for his injured brother Rasmus.

“You’ve got two great teams, two quality standard teams,” Donald told the DP World Tour. “You have rookies that are hungry to try and make a mark, and you have two guys that have a lot of experience.

READ MORE: Luke Donald says he has one ‘wish’ over what every European player will do just before facing America in the Ryder Cup in 2025

“It’s great for me to oversee it and see how these players perform under match-play team competition and under that kind of pressure.”

And discussing what he learned from the 2023 Team Cup, he added: “You see how people cope under that and you see how they react.

“Certain people did better than others, and Nicolai was an example. Came in in a tough situation, replaced his brother, and probably performed the best out of everyone that week.

“Again, forward eight months later when I was making my picks, that was something that I took into consideration.

“So these are all things that we’ll see, we’ll look at, and again, it’s an important week for the build-up to New York.”

How Luke Donald will use the Team Cup as Ryder Cup preparation

Donald clearly values the Team Cup, which is of course only in its infancy compared to the likes of the Presidents Cup.

But it represents a great opportunity for players to follow in the footsteps of Hojgaard and impress the European captain up close.

Two teams of ten DP Word Tour members contest the three-day match play contest, where Rose goes up against Molinari in the leading roles.

Aaron Rai and Matthieu Pavon are among 13 players making Team Cup debuts, although Tom McKibbin could steal the spotlight.

McKibbin is close to joining LIV Golf, with the Northern Irish youngster having only just secured a PGA Tour card for the 2025 season.

READ MORE: What Rory McIlroy has previously said about Tom McKibbin who looks set to be next to join LIV Golf

Donald, who will be accompanied by his Ryder Cup Vice Captains Edoardo Molinari and Thomas Bjorn in Abu Dhabi, as well as Paul McGinley and Nicolas Colsaerts, also wants to use the experience for the upcoming tournament at Bethpage Black.

“I’m kind of sitting in an overview,” added Donald. “It’s great to have Justin and Fran here, getting a little experience for the other side of it, and an eye to still wanting to play great for me.

“It’s sitting back and watching the players and see how they interact as a team and see how they perform under that sort of pressure. Yeah, it’s a good learning week for me and the Vice Captains.”