Luke Donald set to RETURN as European Ryder Cup Captain for 2025 edition following HISTORIC success in Italy

Luke Donald lead Team Europe to a huge victory against Team USA at home turf and is now looking to defend his crown.

Luke Donald set to RETURN as European Ryder Cup Captain for 2025 edition following HISTORIC success in Italy

Luke Donald (Pic Credit: Imago)

The word “return” has dominated recent topics regarding golf. While the golfing world has its eyes set to see the return of Tiger Woods at the Hero World Challenge, he is not the only one to make a historic comeback. On Wednesday it was announced that Luke Donald will return as European Ryder Cup team captain for the 2025 edition.

The Englishmen enjoyed a great time as the leader of Team Europe. His selections, guidance, and tactics were well-praised as he helped the team record a historic triumph in Italy. He is now all set to continue his role and try to defend his title at Bethpage course in New York in 2025.

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Donald though was not the first-choice captain of Team Europe. Five-time Ryder Cup winner Henrik Stenson was originally named as the leader. Following his switch to LIV Golf, Stenson was stripped of the captaincy role. Donald was thus named as this successor.

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After the success at the Marco Simone Golf Course, there had been questions regarding the future of the English golfer. The 45-year-old claimed he would obviously consider thinking about returning as the captain.

Luke Donald sets sights on history with Team Europe in 2025

Before the announcement of Luke Donald, there had been some media speculations about whether the golfing world would see a battle between Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods. For now, this conversation has now been on hold. Donald now has his sights set on history at Bethpage in New York during the 2025 event.

He is the first European captain since Bernand Gallacher to return as captain for Team Europe. Gallacher would lead his side in three straight events from 1991 to 1995. He is now eyeing to become just the second European Ryder Cup captain to win back-to-back events since Tony Jacklin.

Luke Donald
Luke Donald (Pic Credit: AP)

Jacklin was the captain of Team Europe who won the cup in 1985 at The Belfry course before successfully defending their crown in the 1987 edition at Muirfield. 

"To be only the second European Ryder Cup, to possibly go back-to-back is something that's very interesting to me and a great challenge and excites me.,"
Luke Donald through Eurosport.

Donald has now 22 months to prepare for the next event. With the European team consisting of some great young talents and experienced veterans, it is likely that there would not be many changes to the 2023 winning team.

As for Team USA, several changes are expected. Captain Zach Johnson will not be returning to lead the team following their defeat. While the name of Woods was brought up in this conversation, he firmly declined to comment on it for now and instead shifted his focus to other major things.

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