{"id":26917,"date":"2022-08-01T11:30:04","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T15:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26917"},"modified":"2022-08-01T11:30:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T15:30:05","slug":"luke-donald-takes-the-helm-as-europes-ryder-cup-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26917","title":{"rendered":"Luke Donald Takes The Helm As Europe’s Ryder Cup Captain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Luke Donald (Ryder Cup Europe)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Luke Donald has been named Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup captain for next year\u2019s contest in Rome after Henrik Stenson was stripped of the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stenson was appointed captain on March 15, but the Swede\u2019s tenure lasted just 127 days before he was sacked for joining the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald, who was on the winning side in all four of his Ryder Cup appearances as a player, said: \u201cI am incredibly proud to be named European Ryder Cup captain for 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is truly one of the greatest honors that can be bestowed upon a golfer, to lead a team of your peers and be an ambassador for an entire continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel extremely privileged to have been given that responsibility and it is a responsibility I do not take lightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of my best experiences in golf have been in the Ryder Cup and I would not swap those for anything. It is an event like no other and I cannot wait to create more special memories in Italy next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald\u2019s appointment came just hours after Stenson pocketed 4.375million US dollars (\u00a33.5million) on his LIV debut, the 46-year-old winning the individual event and finishing second in the team competition at Trump National Golf Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was described as \u201cthe greatest F\/U in the history of Golf\u201d on Twitter by Donald Trump Jr, whose father \u2013 former US president Donald Trump \u2013 owns the course in New Jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald was on the winning side in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012 and was also a vice-captain to Thomas Bjorn for the 2018 win in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 44-year-old\u2019s first taste of defeat in the biennial contest came in the same role under Padraig Harrington at Whistling Straits last year, when the United States stormed to a record 19-9 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five members of the European team have defected to LIV \u2013 Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Bernd Wiesberger \u2013 while Americans Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka have joined the controversial breakaway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trio have been indefinitely suspended from the PGA Tour and are therefore, as things stand, ineligible for the Ryder Cup, while it remains unclear if the European rebels will be able to qualify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DP World Tour members who played in the inaugural LIV Golf event were fined \u00a3100,000 and banned from competing in the Scottish Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, following a hearing before Sport Resolutions (UK) days before play got under way at the Renaissance Club, Poulter, Adrian Otaegui and Justin Harding had the punishments temporarily stayed, pending determination of their substantive appeals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as Poulter and Westwood are concerned, that means they are still eligible and Westwood plans to play in the Tour\u2019s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, in September.<\/p>\n

Share this:<\/h3>