Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has revealed the two players giving him a “headache” as he ponders his wildcard picks for Team Europe in their attempt to retain the trophy at Bethpage Black next month.
Donald brilliantly masterminded the 2023 success on European soil in Rome but now faces perhaps the biggest challenge in golf – winning the Ryder Cup away from home, something that has been done just twice in the 21st century.
This weekend’s British Masters is the final qualification event, with the European standings being confirmed come Sunday evening when the six automatic qualifiers will be known. At that point Donald will have to decide who will be chosen as his six wildcards.
Rory McIlroy, Bob MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton have already all sealed qualification for New York, leaving just one automatic spot up for grabs. Two-time Ryder Cup player Shane Lowry currently occupies it but he can be leapfrogged by potential rookie Rasmus Hojgaard, who just needs a top-30 finish at the British Masters to snatch the final qualification place.
If Hojgaard doesn’t qualify automatically then he’s certainly not a lock to be selected as a wildcard, with the likes of Harry Hall, Matt Wallace, Aaron Rai, Marco Penge and Hojgaard’s twin brother Nicolai all pushing for selection as the 12th man in the team. Logic dictates that the other 11 players are more or less decided as Lowry, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg, Sepp Straka and Matt Fitzpatrick are all highly likely join the five current automatic qualifiers as selections unless Donald springs a huge shock.
But the decision still needs to be made and, especially if Rasmus Hojgaard fails to secure a top-30 spot at the Belfry this week to miss out on automatic qualification, Donald admits two of potential contenders making a late surge are really giving him food for thought.
“I’m obviously excited about the five that are locked in,” explained Donald in a press conference at the British Masters, where he is teeing it up as a player. “There’s a bunch of guys from that 2023 team that are still performing well, the Viktors, Ludwig, Sepp, Shane, Fitzy has been playing really well.
“But you’ve got some other guys that are trying to force their way on to the team, like Marco [Penge] last week, really tremendous performance, looks very much in control and tough circumstances against a crowd that was.
“Harry Hall has been playing great. There’s many others, as well, that obviously are still really on the radar. It always happens in Ryder Cups. People make a push at the end and want to be part of the team. Even though it’s a headache for me in terms of how many players are giving themselves a chance it’s really a good headache. It’s a good opportunity for me to see all these players and how much they really want to be part of it. Yeah, I’m excited to see how these next couple weeks turn out.”
Penge and Hall were name-checked by the skipper due to impressive performances in recent weeks, as both seek a Ryder Cup debut at Bethpage.
Penge produced an impressive final round to win the Danish Golf Championship last week, beating Ryder Cup rival Hojgaard by a stroke to lift the trophy. That followed the 27-year-old Englishman notching a superb T-2, alongside McIlroy of all people, at the Scottish Open last month and he’ll hope to make an even greater case for himself at the British Masters this week.
Meanwhile, Hall has been playing over in the US and impressing on the PGA Tour, especially in the ongoing FedEx Cup play-offs. The 28-year-old from Cornwall hasn’t finished outside the top 30 in an event since early May – 11 straight tournaments.
That run includes two major (the US PGA and the Open) plus a T-6 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, a T-9 at the Travelers Championship and a sixth-place finish at the BMW Championship last week to book his spot in the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake this week, with its $40m purse and field of just the 30 best-performing players this season.
There are no Ryder Cup points available, unlike at the British Masters running concurrently, but another strong performance in the PGA Tour’s most elite event could force Donald’s hand in terms of selection.
There was some confusion when, during at interview at the BMW Championship last week, Hall suggested he hadn’t had any recent contact with Donald and hadn’t been asked for his measurements for a possible Ryder Cup uniform, suggesting he’s not really on the radar. But the captain clarified the situation.
“I think Harry, what he said recently… Certainly I’ve had many, many conversations with Harry, starting from the end of last year, and invited him to play the Team Cup,” explained Donald.
“He wanted to concentrate on the US and establish himself over there, which was fair enough. I’ve had a couple dinners with Harry. I’ve texted him many times as recently as after the Scottish Open. I played with him specifically at the Scottish and he was part of the barbecue for the players at the Scottish Open, and I texted with him and called him as recently as last week.
“He knows exactly where he stands. He knows he’s playing well. Absolutely I’ve been in contact with him. I think his answer got misconstrued.”
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