It might not quite feel like it, but the 2025 Ryder Cup is close.
Very close.
There are only six weeks of competitive action on the DP World Tour left after this week’s BMW International Open before the European team is finalised, which means that the golf in Munich – and the action to come this summer – is going to be crucial in determining Luke Donald’s dozen players who will represent Europe in golf’s great continental clash.
Winning in New York will not be easy.
“I’ve been saying for a long time now,” said Rory McIlroy in the aftermath of the triumph in Rome two years ago. “that winning an away Ryder Cup is one of the toughest tasks in golf. But it’s what we’re going to do.”
It was a bullish attitude and not surprising given the drama of that final day in Rome, but it’s also in the past – whereas Bethpage Black in September is in the future.
The Ryder Cup was a hot topic of conversation at the BMW International Open as fans, the media and the players themselves pondered the options for Europe’s captain Donald.
But what clues were dropped at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried? Let’s take a closer look.
Are Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia’s Ryder Cup consigned to history?
The American and the Spaniard were both playing last week in Germany. Reed was fresh from his first ever LIV Golf victory in Dallas while Garcia was delighted to have recently qualified for the Open off the back of his LIV Golf rankings for this year.
So in one sense they have form.
They are also Ryder Cup legends. Reed was once known as ‘Captain America’ and famously downed Rory McIlroy in one of the all-time great singles matches. Garcia has won more Ryder Cup points than any other European golfer.
But are they done? Both would love to play again but the reality might be that they are finished. Garcia, once so boyish, has started to look like a veteran and would be a focal point for the vicious New York galleries. His best bet might be a behind-the-scenes role with his friend Donald.
Reed has the win on LIV, but little else in his favour. He would probably need a top three in the Open – and maybe even victory – to force the hand of US captain Keegan Bradley.
The pair missed the cut in Bavaria, not helping their hopes of Ryder Cup redemption.
What does Luke Donald look for when he plays with potential picks?
It was perhaps notable that Luke Donald was playing with Jordan Smith and David Puig. The former is one of the DP World Tour’s most consistent performers, the latter is a young Spanish LIV Golf star.
Both could yet make Donald’s team, albeit they’d need a stunning summer run.
But when Golf365 asked the captain what he looked for when playing with potential picks, he harked back to the first time he played with Ludvig Aberg.
“You could tell,” he said. “And the same thing happened the first time I played with Rory McIlroy. With both of them I knew – these were generational talents.”
That makes for quite a tough task for anyone else who plays with Donald.
To impress him – to really turn his head – needs outrageous quality.
Luke Donald’s vital 13th man
There would be many who might overlook Edoardo Molinari.
The Italian is still active on the DP World Tour but off the course he ambles around and, like so many nearing middle age, the hair is thinning.
He looks like what he is: a nice fella.
But when Donald refers to ‘Dodo’ you can tell how valuable he is to the team. There’s an almost reverential tone to the talk of his friend because Molinari loves stats and his numbers were crucial to the success in Rome: it was he who urged the need for a fast start, he who directed a captain’s pick away from a course winner, he who suggested winning partnerships.
“Dodo has been looking at the data for Bethpage Black,” Donald told Golf365. “We also played the course just over a year ago. We’ve got our thoughts.”
Donald is a sharp operator. In another world you could imagine him guiding a corporate giant to record breaking profits.
All good leaders know the importance of effective delegation and the Donald-Dodo partnership remains critical for European hopes of retaining the Ryder Cup.
Is it possible to qualify for Team Europe while playing on the DP World Tour?
Whisper it, but might it be too difficult for a player who only plays on the DP World Tour to break into the Ryder Cup team?
The rankings are now based on world rankings points – there is no longer a list based solely on DP World Tour events.
And there are only six guaranteed spots.
So for all that Smith and Puig were trying to give Donald a nudge, they’ve got a big heap of difficulty in front of them.
At the start of the BMW International Open, the first 15 names in the rankings were all PGA Tour card holders.
Five youngsters playing in Munich who may be future Ryder Cup stars
Donald saw one of them up close: Spain’s David Puig. He has three top 10s this year, is a two-time winner on the Asian Tour and ahead of his arrival in Munich he had finished top 12 in his last five DP World Tour starts.
He told Golf365: “To play for Europe in the Ryder Cup is my dream. It’s what I get up in the morning and work hard for.”
The Dane, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, impressed Paul McGinley when the 2014 Ryder Cup captain was watching January’s Ryder Cup warm-up in Abu Dhabi. He is yet to win on the main tour but was T12 in last month’s US Open.
Frenchman Martin Couvra has impressed everyone this season with his mop of blond hair and his outrageously good golf.
“A bit special,” said Sky Sports’ Tim Barter in Germany, having followed him in Italy the previous week. He was a winner in Turkey and could easily win again.
If Couvra has a mop of blond hair, Spain’s Angel Ayora has a mop of dark hair.
He had the bigger reputation coming out of the 2024 Challenge Tour but has not quite lived up to it but he’s very like Couvra – slight of frame but big of game.
Another Dane, Jacob Slov Olesen, won last year’s Amateur Championship and with it a spot in this year’s Masters.
“The trouble is,” he told Golf365, “I wanted to turn pro and I needed to.”
What a decision to have to make, to miss out on Augusta National, and yet he’s been proved correct. He’s on track to make the DP World Tour Championship in his rookie year…
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Article Link: Ryder Cup 2025: New Team Europe clues emerge from International Open