Ryder Cup captains salute each other and players ahead of weekend at Bethpage Black
The four-pound, 17-inch-tall Ryder Cup trophy shined in gold atop the dais in the interview room at Bethpage Black on Monday afternoon.
To the left of the trophy sat Luke Donald, amid a rare but deeply appreciated second stint as Team Europe’s captain.
To his right was Keegan Bradley, the first-time U.S. captain who opted not to play despite currently being the No. 13 player in the world.
The 45th Ryder Cup, which begins Friday morning at the Farmingdale course, will have its heated moments. But on Monday, the 25-minute joint news conference was filled with a palpable sense of mutual admiration.
“As far as I'm concerned, he's one of the greatest European captains ever,” Bradley said.
Said Donald: “I see a lot of similarities between us, but there's definitely a deep respect amongst us.”
A 47-year-old Englishman, Donald rose to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking system for the first time in May 2011, the year Bradley was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year and won the PGA Championship (his only major championship victory). Donald, who has never won a major, had four different stints as world No. 1 and spent a total of 56 weeks in that position.
Donald set the standard then — not only as a golfer but as a friendly face for a young Bradley.
“There's not many people I like more in the golf world than Luke Donald,” said Bradley, the 39-year-old Vermont native. “I came out on Tour in 2011, and he was No. 1 in the world. He was the first real, quote-unquote, top player to treat me with the respect that I couldn't believe. I get to go out and play with Luke Donald who's the best player in the world. He played with all of my buddies that I went to St. John's with. I loved hanging out and having a drink with Luke Donald.”
The elder captain has cherished their relationship too.
“I've known Keegan 12, 13 years now,” Donald said. “We would play practice rounds together on the road. We would have dinners together. We had mutual friends. Again, Keegan is someone that I've rooted for. If he did well in a tournament, won a tournament, I would text him, and likewise back. I think we definitely have a good strong friendship, and I think there's a mutual respect there. We understand both being in the arena. We understand exactly the difficulties of professional golf, and we celebrate our victories together, I think.
“It's nice to have a captain, your captain opposite you, someone that you know and respect a lot. I think we're also very, very competitive, and that's not going to change this week. I think we'll have a drink on Sunday night no matter what the result.”
The U.S. played a practice round Monday morning, and the 12-man team split into three quartets. Bryson DeChambeau, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas and Cameron Young played in the first group. Harris English, Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler and J.J. Spaun were in the second. Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele closed it out.
Fans will not arrive for practice rounds until Tuesday, and Bradley called it “really powerful” to be on the first tee in a crowd-less environment. The national anthem played, he said, and it was a moment he had envisioned for about a year.
“To be out there and see it and see how emotional the guys got, it was a really special time for our team,” he said.
Team Europe did not play as a team at Bethpage Black on Monday, though it is scheduled to Tuesday and practiced at the course last Monday and Tuesday.
Not much has changed for Donald, with 11 of 12 players returning from the Europeans’ dominant 16 1/2-11 1/2 victory in Rome in 2023; Rasmus Hojgaard replaced his twin brother Nicolai in the only switch.
Does Donald, having gone through one successful campaign as captain, have any tips for his American counterpart?
“That's a tough one, to give advice to someone you're trying to beat this week,” he said. “It really is … You have to enjoy these moments. Being a captain is not easy. There's a lot of buildup. There's a lot that goes into it. It's more than just turning up this week and having your players and coming up with some pairings. There's a lot of intricacies to this. You can get engulfed and a little bit swallowed up sometimes in the little details.
“I think all I would say is, both of us, we need to embrace it, enjoy it, because these are opportunities you don't get very often.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
More golf news
