Donald relishing chance to make history at 'boisterous' Bethpage
Luke Donald has been reappointed as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain. Picture: Getty Images
Luke Donald said he "f**king loved" Rory McIlroy's Saturday night fervour as his European team crushed the United States by five points in the Ryder Cup in Rome.
But after being reappointed as captain yesterday, he admitted he's not sure if a bellicose attitude is the way to go as he looks to become just the second European skipper to win home and away at Bethpage Black in New York in 2025.
A furious McIlroy had to be restrained by Shane Lowry in the car park at Marco Simone after a greenside row with Patrick Cantlay's caddie Joe LaCava.
But with the home team winning a staggering eight of nine Ryder Cups since 2006 — the only exception is the "Miracle at Medinah" in 2012 — Donald will spend the next 22 months working out what kind of "attitude" will help Europe clinch an away win McIlroy described as "one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now."
"Well, we have to figure out the right approach and attitude to have in New York," Donald said when reminded of his words to McIlroy, who told the Sunday Independent he feared his car park rant in Rome would land him in trouble with Donald, only to discover his skipper "f***ing loved" how it galvanised the entire team.
"But yeah, the whole Rory thing, you know, we see this in every Ryder Cup. You know, there's always passion that boils over. We have seen it many, many times in different situations, and this was no different.
"It's an amazingly passionate event and these things happen. Joey, I think, realised he had probably overstepped the mark and apologised pretty quickly afterwards.
"But the fact that Rory was passionate about it just shows that he cares. And I love that, and I love the fact that we're there to win and it's okay to be passionate in this environment."
The environment will be hugely hostile at Bethpage and Donald is not only relieved he has six months more to get ready for New York than he did for Rome, but he's also relishing the chance to "create some history".
He's Europe's first repeat captain since Bernard Gallacher did three in a row from 1991 to 1995 and the chance to become only the second to lead Europe to victories both home and away following Tony Jacklin at Muirfield Village in 1987 is something that motivates him.
"To be only the second Ryder Cup captain, European Ryder Cup captain, to possibly go back-to-back is something that's very interesting to me and a great challenge and excites me," he said.
The famously partisan New York crowd will be Europe's biggest challenge especially if Tiger Woods is the man leading the opposition.
"Certainly that's part of the challenge," he said. "All Ryder Cups are loud and boisterous and New York won't be any different and maybe even more so.
"But I played at Bethpage a few times and the New Yorkers love their sport and they love some jostling and all that kind of that goes with it. Obviously I have 22 months to try and figure out how to get the guys in the right frame of mind to deal with that, with the crowd."
As for the possibility of facing Woods, Donald said: "Well, the desire to win, whoever the captain is, is strong. Yeah, obviously, Tiger's been mentioned as a possible candidate and we'll have to wait and see. If it's him great, if it's someone else, great.
"Again, it's something a little bit out of my control, so I'm not really trying to think about it and once it happens, then we'll address it."
Woods returns to action in the Hero World Challenge alongside Justin Thomas in the Bahamas today as the DP World Tour competes on two continents.
There are no Irishmen in action in the Investec South African Open at Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate in Johannesburg or Irishwomen in the ISPS Handa Australian Open in Melbourne, where Tom McKibbin, Mark Power and Conor Purcell teed it up overnight in the men's event.
