Ryder Cup 2025: Team Europe virtually the same as one that won in Rome

Not much has changed for Team Europe since winning the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Luke Donald is still the captain. Eleven of the 12 golfers remain the same, the only change being Rasmus Hojgaard replacing his twin brother Nicolai.

But Rory McIlroy is the true model of consistency.

This year’s Ryder Cup, which begins on Friday at Bethpage Black, will mark the Northern Irishman’s eighth Ryder Cup appearance. He enters it in arguably the best form of his illustrious career.

“Make no mistake, we know we're up against it, and we know we've got a tall task on our hands,” McIlroy said ahead of  Irish Open in early September, which he won in a playoff. “But I love the team that Luke has assembled. This is going to be my eighth Ryder Cup. I'm the most experienced player at the Ryder Cup.

“I've enjoyed that sort of more senior leadership role on the team for the last few of them. I'm very excited for it.”

Europe’s 16 1/2-11 1/2 win in Rome in 2023 was not particularly close, with the team sweeping the first session and never looking back. McIlroy went 4-1, earning a competition-high four points.

This year? The 36-year-old has been the best golfer in the world not named Scottie Scheffler.

He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Feb. 2. Six weeks later, he won The Players Championship for the second time, prevailing in a playoff against J.J. Spaun.

In April, McIlroy finally won his first Masters, completing the career Grand Slam with a playoff victory over Justin Rose. His  triumph at his national open was the cherry on top.

“No matter what happens for the rest of the year, that’s a pretty cool year,” he said after his most recent win. “2025 is going to go down as one of the best, if not the best, in my career.”

Five golfers joined McIlroy as automatic selections for Europe: Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Rose, Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton.

MacIntyre went unbeaten (2-0-1) in his Ryder Cup debut in 2023. The 29-year-old Scot finished second in June’s U.S. Open.

Fleetwood, 34, from England, is a fan favorite who shook off the label of “best golfer to never win on the PGA Tour” in emphatic fashion last month, winning the Tour Championship by three strokes. He is 7-3-2 in three Ryder Cups.

Rose, the oldest player in the competition at 45, will make his seventh Ryder Cup appearance; he is 14-9-3. The Englishman had one victory this season — in the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Aug. 10, a playoff win over Spaun — and lost in the playoff at the Masters.

Hojgaard, 24, from Denmark, is in strong form, posting two top-two finishes in DP World Tour events last month.

Hatton clinched a spot despite limited opportunities as a LIV golfer. He tied for fourth in the U.S. Open and won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January. He is 5-4-2 in three previous Ryder Cup appearances.

Donald’s six captain picks are Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick.

In a foursome match in 2023, Aberg and Hovland defeated Scheffler and Brooks Koepka 9-and-7, the biggest victory in an 18-hole match in Ryder Cup history.

“That was one of the highlights of my career so far,” said Aberg, 25, from Sweden. “It definitely brings me a little smile to my face.”

Aberg made his Ryder Cup debut in 2023 despite turning pro only three months prior. Hovland is 3-4-3 in two Ryder Cup appearances.

Rahm, the former world No. 1, has gone a bit off the radar with his move to LIV, but he was the league’s individual points and money list champion in 2024 and 2025. The Spaniard is 6-3-3 in three Ryder Cups.

Lowry, the 2019 British Open champ, did not perform well in the majors this year, getting cut twice and never finishing better than 40th. He is 2-3-1 in three Ryder Cups.

Straka, who went 1-2 in the 2023 Ryder Cup, won two PGA Tour events this season: The American Express in January and the Truist Championship in May.

Fitzpatrick is 1-7 in three Ryder Cups, but he was in good form in the majors this year, tying for fourth at the British Open and eighth at the PGA Championship.

Eleven of Europe’s players (everyone but Straka) played in this week’s BMW PGA Championship in England. They traveled to New York afterward for practice rounds on the Black Course at Bethpage. 

Said Lowry: “If we win the Ryder Cup … I don't really care what's going on the rest of the season.”

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

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.