Luke Donald is set to announce the final six members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team
With the Ryder Cup fast approaching later this month, Luke Donald is today set to announce his captain’s picks and the final six members of the European team that will take on Team USA in Rome. The US thrashed Europe when they last met at Whistling Straits in 2021, but the Americans have not won away from home since 1993 and a much-improved European team will hope to maintain that record.
The six confirmed members so far are Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre. Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose look set to return to Team Europe courtesy of Donald’s picks. Big-hitting Austrian, Sepp Straka, has made a compelling case for selection, as has Swedish sensation Ludvig Aberg who won last weekend in just his ninth professional start.
Team USA was confirmed last week with Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Sam Burns selected as captain’s picks to join automatic qualifiers Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele
Follow the latest updates from the Ryder Cup announcement below:
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Team Europe automatic qualifiers – Matt Fitzpatrick
Transformed into an intimidating force off the tee, ‘Fitzy’ now has an aura around him after his 2022 US Open victory. Yet to win a point on golf’s biggest team stage (0-5-0), this is almost the last piece of the puzzle to make Fitzpatrick a transcendent player in European golf. Forced to sit throughout the entire day’s play on Friday in 2018, there will surely be no shortage of opportunities here to further bolster his reputation.
While the driving has caught the eye in the last year or so, Fitzpatrick can be trusted to salvage a hole in matchplay based on his scrambling statistics, leading the PGA Tour last year in scrambling, scrambling from the rough and scrambling from 10-20 yards. He showed a timely return to form by finishing T2 at the BMW Championship. Don’t count him out.
Team Europe automatic qualifiers – Tyrell Hatton
Personality, passion and entertainment. Tyrrell Hatton is not to everybody’s taste, but he has undeniable quality, as proven while flirting once more atop the leaderboard at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, eventually finishing in a tie for fourth, two behind Kurt Kitayama. A runner-up at TPC Sawgrass, Hatton set the table for his best year yet as further top-five finishes came at Quail Hollow, the Byron Nelson and the Canadian Open.
An average Ryder Cup record at 2-3-1, yet Hatton is rounding into form nicely as he enters the prime of his career. Fourth on the PGA Tour last year in strokes gained putting, Hatton is lifting himself into that tier behind McIlroy, Rahm and Hovland.
Team Europe automatic qualifiers – Viktor Hovland
Hovland had only just burst on to the golfing scene when he made his Ryder Cup debut at Whistling Straits two years ago. Despite his undeniable talent, and the fact he was actually Europe’s second-highest-ranked player heading into the event, he looked every bit the rookie.
Forced to play every session due to the Europeans’ lack of quality depth, the Norwegian could only muster half points from one fourballs session and his singles match against fellow greenhorn Collin Morikawa. With two years more experience under his belt, and on a European course, he should be set up for greater success this time round.
He claimed a top 10-finish at the Masters, came agonisingly close to winning the PGA Championship while finishing tied for second and then nabbed a top-20s at the US Open and the Open to cement his place as a truly elite, top-five player in the world.
He then had a simply scintillating August as he produced a remarkable final-round 61 at the BMW Championship (playing alongside McIlroy, incidentally…) to snatch the title away from Scottie Scheffler before blitzing the field to win the season-ending Tour Championship by five strokes, claim the mammoth $18m prize and lay down a serious Ryder Cup marker.
Team Europe automatic qualifiers – Jon Rahm
“Rahmbo” produced a devastating run of three victories in five starts to start the year, before brilliantly adding a second major to his CV by winning the Masters at Augusta and qualification for the Ryder Cup became a mere formality. A statement from the Spaniard and evidence that he would probably outlast Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler should all three of those who have claimed the world No 1 ranking this year perform to their potential.
A 4-3-1 record in two Ryder Cup appearances, Rahm will be a cornerstone of European golf in this transitional period. Donald might just pencil him in for at least three points when plotting the blueprint to bring about the United States’ downfall.
Team Europe automatic qualifiers – Rory McIlroy
As McIlroy goes, Team Europe goes. If the Europeans are going to pull out a win against a star-studded American line-up, they need McIlroy – who mathematically secured automatic qualification with weeks to spare – to be the best player at the event. It will have to be the intimidating 2012, 2014 or 2016 version of Ryder Cup Rory, rather than the one-point McIlroy reduced to tears after feeling he let his teammates down that we saw in 2021.
The Northern Irishman will be the emotional heartbeat of Donald’s squad but as he’s shown by putting himself front and centre during golf’s civil war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, that’s a role he’s more than comfortable with. The wait for an elusive fifth major goes on but a Ryder Cup victory would go some way to assuaging that pain.
Europe announce team for 2023 Ryder Cup
So here we have it. The Ryder Cup is less than a month away. Zach Johnson confirmed Team USA this time last week and now it’s the turn of European captain, Luke Donald to do the same, with the Englishman set to announce the final six members of his team at 14:00pm BST.
We’ve got a couple of hours until then, so let’s first start by taking a look at the six confirmed members of Team Europe.
Europe announce team for 2023 Ryder Cup
Follow all the latest news and updates as captain Luke Donald announces his final picks for Team Europe ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup.
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