Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup captaincy can be key for Team Europe

The two most disappointing phone calls between Luke Donald and Pat Goss — a relationship that started in 1997, when Donald golfed for Goss at Northwestern University — involved the Ryder Cup. One followed Donald not making Team Europe’s 2014 roster despite already collecting four victories in the tournament. Then, around a decade later, Donald was devastated after Henrik Stenson earned the captain nod for Rome in 2023, thinking he had a chance.

Captaining a Ryder Cup team had always been a goal for Donald. He’d collected a 7-1 record representing Great Britain and Ireland in the 1999 and 2001 Walker Cups to start constructing his international résumé, and after his first PGA Tour win as a rookie his focus shifted toward cracking the 2004 Ryder Cup roster. Still, even after all of the future success that followed, it wasn’t clear if becoming a captain would be attainable, said Goss, who has served as Donald’s coach in some capacity for most of the past two-plus decades. Donald — self-described as somewhat of an introvert — didn’t necessarily have the typical captain’s personality.

But then Stenson lost his captaincy after bolting for LIV Golf. Team Europe pivoted to Donald. And by the end of the weekend in Rome, from his spot in the second level of seats 75 yards down the first fairway, Goss watched as European golfers started chanting “two more years” at Donald during the awards ceremony.

“That was the emotional, consequential moment, to me, of the whole event,” Goss said. “Just to know what he had invested in that, how hard he’s worked, how much he’d grown to become such a great inspirational leader, and then to get that validation back from your players, that’s as good as it gets.”