Ryder Cup 2025 live: Luke Donald reveals captain’s picks as Team Europe confirmed
A settled European side will assemble at Bethpage Black as Donald chose not to spring a surprise in his selection
Europe’s Ryder Cup hopefuls discovered their fate as Luke Donald revealed his captain’s picks for Bethpage Black.
With United States counterpart Keegan Bradley electing not to pick himself in a strong home side last week, Donald set about confirming his selection as Europe bid to retain the Cup with a rare success on American soil in September. Having led the team to an excellent performance two years ago, the Englishman kept faith in most of those who played in Rome - with the core of his team intact with Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose among his six automatic qualifiers.
With no restriction on selecting players from LIV Golf, Jon Rahm retained his spot, while Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland will reunite in New York. Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka and Matt Fitzpatrick were the other captain’s picks as the big-hitting Marco Penge, Cornwall’s Harry Hall and Matt Wallace all missed out.
Follow all of the latest reaction after Donald revealed his six wildcards with our live blog below:
Donald names his Ryder Cup captain's picks
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has named Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick and Sepp Straka as his selections to complete the team which will defend the trophy in the United States later this month.
It means 11 of the victorious side in Rome will reassemble at Bethpage in New York with Rasmus Hoijgaard replacing his twin Nicolai as the only change.
Full story:
Luke Donald completes Europe Ryder Cup team with only one change from Rome
Europe name Ryder Cup team
That’s all from today’s Ryder Cup coverage, thanks for joining us. Stick around on the website for more reaction to today’s announcement shortly.
Donald hails Rahm as a team leader
Five of Donald's wildcard picks were the players next in line on the points list, with Spain's Rahm – who competes on the LIV Golf circuit – also included as the captain's second pick, to make his fourth Ryder Cup appearance.
"Jon sets the standard for us. He is meticulous with what he does," Donald said.
"He is first up and last out of the team room. He understands the history of the Ryder Cup and what it represents, following in the footsteps of some amazing Spanish players."
Player guide to Team Europe
Europe’s confidence grows behind stalwarts Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood with Luke Donald confirming his six captain’s picks for Bethpage Black. Here’s a player-by-player guide:
Ryder Cup 2025: Europe team confirmed after Luke Donald makes wildcard picks
'It's quite nice to have the FedEx Cup champion in your team'
Donald excited about form players Rose and Fleetwood:
Hojgaard to make Ryder Cup debut
Hojgaard is indeed the only Ryder Cup rookie, having automatically qualified along with McIlroy, Fleetwood, MacIntyre, Rose and Hatton.
Team Europe for 2025 Ryder Cup
Just one change from the team which won so convincingly in Rome, then, as Rasmus Hojgaard replaces his twin brother Nicolai. It is essentially the same team, genetically speaking.
- Rory McIlroy
- Bob MacIntyre
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Justin Rose
- Rasmus Hojgaard
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Shane Lowry
- Jon Rahm
- Sepp Straka
- Viktor Hovland
- Ludvig Aberg
- Matt Fitzpatrick
Donald on Fitzpatrick's form
“Nobody statistically been as good as Matt in the past few months. He’s playing tremendous golf right now, six top 10s in his late eight starts. It’s really impressive.”
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