Luke Donald will return as Europe's Ryder Cup captain for a third time. Will Tiger Woods lead the US team in 2027?
ORLANDO — The Europeans are sticking with the formular that has gotten them two straight Ryder Cup victories.
Jupiter's Luke Donald will return for a third consecutive Ryder Cup as the team's captain. Now the question is will he be facing Jupiter Island's Tiger Woods in the 2027 matches in Ireland.
Donald has led the Europeans to wins in Rome and at Bethpage Black in New York. No captain has won three consecutive outright Ryder Cup titles.
Woods is the PGA of America's preferred choice to lead the Americans. Woods, who turned down the job for the 2025 Ryder Cup leading to Jupiter's Keegan Bradley being named captain, said he has not decided if he will take the job.
"They have asked me for my input on it, and I haven't made my decision yet," Woods said recently. "I'm trying to figure out what we're trying to do with our tour. That's been driving me hours upon hours every day and trying to figure out if I can actually (lead) Team USA and our players and everyone that's going to be involved in the Ryder Cup, if I can do it justice with my time."
Woods is chairman of the PGA Tour's Future Competitions Committee, which is looking at making changes to future scheduling.
Rory McIlroy, a key part of Europe's success the last two Ryder Cups, advocated for Donald's return after the team's win at Bethpage. Europe held off a charging U.S. for a 15-13 victory.
McIlroy and Donald live on the same street in Jupiter.
"It's obviously a huge advantage for the European team to have that continuity and that consistency," McIlroy said. "We'll have it even more so again. It's wonderful to have Luke back. There's not one player or one person that helps behind the scenes that isn't thrilled that Luke has agreed to come back and do it again."
Henrik Stenson was supposed to be European captain in 2023
Donald never imagined he would be a three-time captain. He wasn't even expected to lead the team in 2023. That was supposed to be Henrik Stenson. But Stenson lost that chance after he joined LIV Golf.
“The last two Ryder Cups have meant a lot to me and my family,” Donald said. “I didn’t imagine this third time would come. Celebrating on that Sunday night in New York after a pressure-packed week in a tough environment, I thought maybe my job was done.
“But maybe there is a little more story to tell.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler of the U.S. believes the decision was an easy one for the Europeans.
"He's had some pretty good results the last two Cups … obviously we'll be hoping to change that when we go over to Ireland next year," Scheffler said. "Obviously he's had a lot of success and he's pretty good at it, so if I was the European team I would probably be trying to convince him to come back as well."
Tony Jacklin captained the Europeans three times. His teams won twice and tied in 1989.
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Luke Donald returns as Ryder Cup captain. Will Tiger Woods lead US?
Category: General Sports
