Tommy Fleetwood of England celebrates Europe’s victory in the 2018 Ryder Cup, the last time the competition was held on European soil. | Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images
All 12 European Ryder Cuppers will play at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, one of the biggest tournaments on the DP World Tour.
Successful teams often have excellent chemistry, outstanding camaraderie, and a strong will to win that unites.
But those attributes are never formed overnight; they take time to mature and materialize.
Yet, these features have been molded within the European Ryder Cup team since the mid-1980s, and this year is no different.
The entire 2023 European team, led by Englishman Luke Donald, will tee it up at next week’s BMW PGA Championship, which will conclude two weeks before the Sunday Singles take place in Rome.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever done it as a team,” Donald said before the Horizon Irish Open.
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Luke Donald speaks to the media at The K Club on Sept. 6, 2023.
“It was something that I certainly wanted. I was very adamant that whoever was on that team was going to be there. I didn’t want anyone to skip out on it unless they had specific reasons for that.”
Plenty of youth and inexperience exist on the 2023 squad, hence the push from Donald for everyone to play at Wentworth for the BMW in England.
Team Europe features four rookies and only two players who have played in three or more Ryder Cups: Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose. But that does not mean the qualities that have defined Europe will vanish.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to come together,” Donald added. “Any time you can get the guys together and start thinking about pairings, you can start creating that unity in the team room, which is really, really important.”
Since the days of Tony Jacklin’s captaincy in the mid-1980s, the Europeans have done seemingly everything together regarding the Ryder Cup: eat, travel, practice, strategize, and more. The caddies, wives, and families are often a big part of the celebration too.
That mantra extended through the 2000s, when Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer, and Ian Woosnam led the Euros to three straight Ryder Cup victories—against a team led by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
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The 2002 Ryder Cup team that emerged victrious at The Belfry.
This year, Donald invokes those sentiments by bringing everyone together weeks before the competition begins.
In fact, on Monday, Sept. 11, the European team plans on traveling to Rome to scout Marco Simone Golf Club. A few players have not seen the course before, so Donald feels obligated to get an advanced practice round in well before the competition begins.
Bonds between the players—especially among the younger ones—will develop naturally too.
“We’re all playing and staying for dinner Monday night, and we’re flying to Wentworth on Tuesday,” Irishman Shane Lowry said.
“That’s going to be an amazing trip. That’ll be a nice team bonding. It’ll be nice for the likes of Ludvig [Åberg] and Nicolai [Højgaard] to get to know the guys that they don’t already know, and it’ll be good for the caddies, as well. It’ll be a good trip.”
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Ludvig Aberg won the 2023 Omega European Masters. He made the 2023 Ryder Cup team the following day.
Åberg, 23, and Højgaard, 22, are the two youngest players in this year’s Ryder Cup. So, this trip—and the BMW PGA Championship—will pay huge dividends for them.
On the flip side, the Americans do not have a designated tournament that all 12 plan on participating in.
They will prepare individually instead.
Max Homa and Justin Thomas will tee it up in Napa Valley next week at the Fortinet Championship.
Brooks Koepka may play at the LIV Golf event in Chicago from Sept. 22 to Sept. 24, one week before the Ryder Cup begins. If he does not, he surely will practice at his home in South Florida, as he cannot play in a PGA Tour event.
Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler, at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, discussed how he would take a break, relax, and focus on preparing for the Ryder Cup.
Xander Schauffele will do the same.
“Unwinding for a bit will be important,” Schauffele said in Atlanta. “But from what I hear, the Europeans are setting up that course to be narrow with really thick rough. It’s a hike. So definitely going to try and, with all that said, hit the ball a little straighter, get into good cardio shape, and make sure my game’s ready and not rusty to compete.”
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Xander Schauffele at the 2021 Ryder Cup.
Sure, getting into shape is essential, as is being in form.
Brian Harman noted that too, saying, “You have to be in some kind of form” at the Ryder Cup to play well.
But the Americans are preparing individually, unlike the Europeans, who are readying as a team.
That may help explain why Team Europe is 12-6 in the Ryder Cup since 1985, despite being underdogs most of the time.
And if the Americans cannot crack the code of winning on European soil—something they have not done since 1993—then perhaps their preparations should change ahead of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Maybe that is taking a play out of the European’s playbook by joining together at a tournament weeks in advance. It could only help.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
