New Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald motivated by ‘bitter’ memories of 2021 defeat

Luke Donald will be motivated by the “bitter” memories of a record Ryder Cup defeat at Whistling Straits after succeeding the sacked Henrik Stenson as Europe’s captain.

Stenson was appointed on March 15, but the Swede’s tenure lasted just 127 days before he was stripped of the role for breaking his contract by joining the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.

Donald, who turned down an offer from LIV to commentate on their events, said when linked with the role that he would not be “doing a Henrik” and reiterated his commitment following confirmation of his appointment.

“I’m giving you my word that I will be here for the next 14 months,” Donald said. “I’m excited about this opportunity, I really am. The Ryder Cup means so much to me and I’m not going to take this lightly, so I will see you in Rome.”

Donald was on the winning side in all four Ryder Cup appearances as a player, including the record wins in 2004 and 2006 and the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012, where he won the opening singles against Bubba Watson as Europe overturned a 10-6 deficit on the final day.

The 44-year-old, who spent a total of 56 weeks as world number one, was also a vice-captain under Thomas Bjorn for the win in Paris in 2018, with his only experience of defeat to date coming in the same role under Padraig Harrington for last year’s 19-9 thrashing in Wisconsin.

“I think the DP World Tour and the Ryder Cup Committee have a great template in place,” Donald said when asked about the difficulty of regaining the trophy next September.

“We have had a lot of success over the years. We’ve won seven of the last 10, nine of the last 13. So certainly last year’s defeat was very bitter. It was tough to swallow. It was the first time I was ever on a losing team and