European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald is unfazed by talk of Tom McKibbin’s potential move to LIV Golf and hopes the Holywood star can impress him in this week’s Team Cup in Abu Dhabi.

McKibbin (22) has been strongly linked to Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII, and speculation that the deal is done will only rise now after he was paired with potential teammate Tyrell Hatton for today’s opening fourballs.

Captained by Justin Rose, the Great Britain and Ireland pair take on Continental Europe’s French duo of Antoine Rozner and Julien Guerrier in an event created to help Donald scout players for September’s Ryder Cup.

“No, not at all,” Donald told Gulf News when asked if the speculation over McKibbin’s future altered his plans this week. “Tom has to make the decisions that he feels are best for him.

“I talked to Tom and he’s very much looking forward to this week, looking forward to playing for Justin, looking forward to try and impress me and contribute to the team.  "Nothing changes there.”

McKibbin this week refused to comment on reports he’s set to join Rahm, Hatton and American Caleb Surrat at LIV Golf.

“I’m not gonna make any comments this week out of respect for [GB& I captain] Justin [Rose] and [Ryder Cup captain] Luke [Donald] and this tournament,” McKibbin said on Wednesday. “It’s a team event, so I’m just trying to give my best to the team and see how many points I can get.”

Rahm returns to action at next week’s Dubai Desert Classic, where Rory McIlroy defends

But with time running out for Legion XIII to announce its replacement for Kieran Vincent and with McKibbin also entered for Dubai and the following week’s Ras Al Khaimah Championship (Jan 23-26), official confirmation is expected soon.

Donald’s only concern is retaining the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York in September, and after seeing Nicolai Hojgaard, Robert MacIntyre, and Sepp Straka use this week’s event to gain invaluable experience before their winning Ryder Cup debuts in Rome, he’s keen to see Europe’s young talent in action.

“I think it’s important to have these guys come together to start to experience being in a team room,” Donald said of an event where playing captains Rose and Francesco Molinari lead two 10-man teams and every player competes in the four sessions — one fourball session today and two foursomes sessions tomorrow before Sunday’s ten singles.

“Part of this week is to kind of see young talent that we think has the ability,” Donald said of what he believes is “a massively important way for us to kick off the year”.

Speaking to the Telegraph, he did not add fuel to the fire started by the PGA of America, which will pay each US team member $500,000 to tee it up in New York — $300,000 guaranteed to charity with the other $200,000 described as “a stipend”.

“I do feel the game is going that way and captain stuff aside, that’s just a bit of a shame,” Donald said of the money issue. “It should never be just about money. We know there’s much better ways to motivate people than that and that’s certainly what we are concentrating on.”

After hearing rumours of payments to the US team, Donald reached out to his team, including McIlroy, who said he’d happily “pay for the privilege of playing in the Ryder Cup”.

“I said, ‘how would you feel if the US were paid?’ And they told me that, ‘the week’s not really about that – it’s more than that’.”

The players are being paid this week — $125,000 to each member of the winning team with $70,000 each for the losers. But Donald is more interested in becoming the first captain to win away in a Ryder Cup since 2012.

“After Rome, I could easily have disappeared into the sunset as a winning captain. But the players wanted me to stay on and I’ve always believed it to be a mistake to shy away from the challenge.

“And the fact that away teams don’t win the Ryder Cup is one very enticing reason why I’ve resumed this role. I love the fact that it’s not going to be easy, but with time and the right preparation I really do think we can ensure that those scales are a bit more even.”

Fourballs (Continental Europe v GB&I): R Langasque/M Pavon v J Rose/M Wallace; R Højgaard/R Neergaard-Petersen v J Smith/ L Canter; A Rozner/J Guerrier v T Hatton/T McKibbin; T Olesen/N Nørgaard v M Jordan/P Waring; F Molinari/M Manassero v T Fleetwood/A Rai.