Donald confirms Ryder Cup picks as Europe prepare for life without LIV stars
Luke Donald has confirmed his six Ryder Cup captain's picks, completing his 2023 European team. Donald announced Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Nicolai Hojgaard and Ludvig Aberg as his skipper selections.
The six picks join the already qualified, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre and Matt Fitzpatrick, who secured their spots via the European Points List and World Points List.
The inclusion of Fleetwood, Rose and Lowry will give the European setup some much-needed experience, whilst the second half of the picks sees Donald give debuts to three rookies in Straka, Hojgaard and Aberg.
The decision to include Aberg will no doubt have been a late call from Donald, following the Swedish star's maiden DP World Tour victory less than 24 hours earlier. The youngster only made the decision to turn professional in June, but he has not looked back since.
Aberg had finished inside the top-25 in five of his first eight starts as a pro, but it was thought his impressive run came too little too late to make Donald's team. This all changed on Sunday though, after the youngster was crowned champion of the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.
Bubba Watson shares details of horror knee injury ahead of LIV Golf debut
Aberg shot an impressive six-under-par 64 in his final round to finish on 19-under for the tournament, and clinch the title in only his second DP World Tour start as a pro. The late selection of Aberg comes at the expense of Adrian Meronk and Yannick Paul, who came fourth and fifth in the European Points List.
Ludvig Aberg will make his Ryder Cup debut (Getty Images)Donald's 12-man team kicks off a new era of European Ryder Cup golf, with the likes of Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood all missing from the 2023 setup. Poulter and co have been mainstays over the past two decades, but their association with the Ryder Cup has come to an end following their move to LIV Golf.
After joining the LIV setup last summer, Poulter, Garcia and Westwood were involved in a lengthy dispute with the DP World Tour. Eventually the Wentworth-based circuit were granted permission to sanction those who joined the Saudi-backed series.
On the back of the punishment, four of Europe's 2021 Ryder Cup players in Poulter, Garcia Westwood and Paul Casey resigned their Tour memberships, thus giving up the chance to compete at the Ryder Cup. Donald will take his new-look team to Rome later this month, in a bid to win back the title they lost to their American rivals in 2021.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
