by It is no coincidence that Rory McILroy called to win an outside match of the Ryder Cup “New Everest from Golf” and that Captain Luke Donald provided a preparatory mission using the same fundamental principles as these expeditions which take the most demanding climb.
“Recognition and acclimatization” are listed as the basic requirements of the scale and the blue and gold brigade will therefore go for an entire week of work before the Biennial fight in New York next month, determined to not only be fully informed of the challenge that is waiting but also to be completely refreshed.
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Of course, it has become a basic food for the captains of the Ryder Cup to direct their men on missions of researching facts before the great test of strength. However, a visit team has never previously undertaken their two -day inspection behind the enemy lines so close to the start of hostilities.
Donald revealed that a plane had been chartered to fly from London on the evening of Sunday, September 15, immediately after the end of the BMW PGA championship, and said that he wants his 12 golfers to stay in the countryside until they meet at the New York team hotel on Monday, September 23.
There will be no excuse to be round – as the Americans were two years ago – no accusation of being sub -prepare and certainly no chance of using the jet lag as a reason for any deficit.
“For me, it would be ideal to stay in the United States rather than going back and forth and facing a jet-lac,” Donald the British Masters told Wednesday. “The plan is nine holes on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday, then I think we will see the groups dragging together.
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“Some players live there and will want to return home, but there will certainly be a chance for some of them to spend time for a period of two weeks. We have plans in place for where they will stay.”
With the qualification concluded in the belfry this week, and Donald appointing his jokers on September 1, the final dozen is still decided, but it is expected that around a third of the team will not have a fixed American residence, including Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Bob Macintyre and Rasmus Hojgaard.
Rory McILroy may have close friends such as Rose and Fleetwood, although as Donald, himself a neighbor of McILroy’s, explained, he is uncomfortably hot and humid in Florida at that time of the year and they can embark on golf trips elsewhere in the United States.
Anyway, Donald must be confident of what this plan will do for the Unity team when they try to become only the second team in nine games to prevail on foreign soil. Although, as Matt Fitzpatrick pointed out, the probability that there are the same 12 faces in the European team room that two years ago will help more consolidate camaraderie. “In this sense, I would say it would be a very good thing,” said Fitzpatrick.
Matt Fitzpatrick hopes to win a joker for the Ryder Cup – Getty Images / Ross Kinnaird
The Yorkshireman is in this area after having failed to qualify for the Tour championship in Atlanta, the highest point of the PGA Tour of the 2025 season which also begins Thursday. Even with a victory, Fitzpatrick cannot jump into the best six players who will automatically win their place on Sunday, but after such a resident summer, the US Open 2022 champion will be confident to keep his place.
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Indeed, if Hojgaard realize the Top 29 which needs to move Shane Lowry in the half-dozen of the main dozen, the selection of Donald could be simple. No, it would not be the same 12 names, but as Fitzpatrick intelligently underlined it, the faces will indeed be the same. Rasmus would simply replace his identical twin Nicolai. “No one can even exchange during the week,” said Fitzpatrick, laughing.
In truth, it is a serious company and Donald is determined to instill in his troops the disciplined attitude he demands before arriving at Bethpage for the match. Last week, Macintyre had some round trips with American Hecklers in Baltimore, before succumbing to the World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Donald does not want any of this in the Bear Pit Bethpage.
“We will have these conversations once the team is defined, that the players are preparing for this cauldron, this atmosphere,” said Donald. “There is nothing wrong with having this fire in your belly, but what matters is the way you use it in an environment like that. The less. “
