Europe are making a notable change to their preparations for the Ryder Cup as Luke Donald’s side look to become the first away team to win the event since 2012.
Winning an away Ryder Cup has become one of the most difficult tasks at the very highest level of the game. Europe were on the receiving end of a record defeat at Whistling Straits in 2021.
Of course, Luke Donald has plenty of reasons for optimism.
Europe were superb in Rome two years ago. And they head to Bethpage with 11 of the 12 players who won the trophy back at Marco Simone.
But they are not going to allow any complacency to creep in.
What the European team are doing for the first time ahead of the 2025 Ryder Cup
Preparation seemed to be the secret weapon for Europe in 2023. Donald created an incredible team atmosphere with bonding trips to the Italian capital beforehand.
And it seems that the team have similar plans for New York. In fact, Paul McGinley told Sky Sports that Europe were doing something for the first time ever ahead of this year’s Ryder Cup.
“It started with about 20 or 30 players who were on an email trail and now it’s dwindled down to the 12.
It gets more acute now. How he is looking at pairings and we are going to have some more meetings next week. We are going to have 11 of the 12 players playing at Wentworth next week,” he said.
“You will have meetings with that. And then we are doing a practice trip away to New York, which we have never done before for an away match. We are going out well in advance of the Ryder Cup for a practice session.
“So no stone unturned. We are going to give ourselves the best chance of going over there and performing really well but it is a really big, daunting challenge. We have to say that.”
How much experience each European player has of playing in away Ryder Cups
Recent results suggest that there is a huge difference between playing a Ryder Cup at home compared with on the road.
The likes of Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose were part of the team which won at Medinah in 2012 – along with their captain.
It is Matthew Fitzpatrick who then has the most experience of playing in an away Ryder Cup. He made his debut in the event in 2016.
| Player | Away Ryder Cups | Overall Record | Points won |
| Justin Rose | 3 (2008, 2012, 2016) | 8-6-0 | 8 |
| Rory McIlroy | 3 (2012, 2016, 2021) | 7-7-0 | 7 |
| Matthew Fitzpatrick | 2 (2016, 2021) | 0-5-0 | 0 |
| Jon Rahm | 1 (2021) | 3-1-1 | 3.5 |
| Tyrrell Hatton | 1 (2021) | 1-2-1 | 1.5 |
| Shane Lowry | 1 (2021) | 1-2-0 | 1 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | 1 (2021) | 0-1-2 | 1 |
| Viktor Hovland | 1 (2021) | 0-3-2 | 1 |
| Robert MacIntyre | 0 | – | – |
| Sepp Straka | 0 | – | – |
| Ludvig Aberg | 0 | – | – |
| Rasmus Højgaard | Rookie | – | – |
Rasmus Højgaard is the only rookie on the European side this time around. But he is far from the only member of the team gearing up for his first Ryder Cup stateside.
Getting some more experience of playing on the course which will host the event should only help the visitors.
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