Luke Donald reveals Ryder Cup plans during Zurich Classic of New Orleans on PGA Tour

Team Europe Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has revealed the Zurich Classic of New Orleans provides valuable preparation ahead of this year’s Ryder Cup.

Former World No.1 Donald is playing alongside Colombian Camilo Villegas in this week's lone PGA Tour team event of the season.

Donald, 47, revealed to the media on Wednesday there are invaluable things this PGA Tour team event can provide ahead of the Ryder Cup.

The 2025 Ryder Cup takes place at Bethpage Black in New York from 26-28 September. 

After leading Team Europe to a five-point victory in 2023 in Rome, Donald is now looking to do the same, but this time on U.S. soil. 

The last time Europe won an away Ryder Cup was in 2012, a contest best known as the Miracle at Medinah. 

One way Donald was able to lead his team to victory in 2023 was by picking Swedish sensation Ludvig Aberg, who had only turned professional in June that year.

Aberg, together with Norwegian Viktor Hovland, achieved a record-breaking 9&7 victory against World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka.

He went on to take 2 points from 4. 

Donald revealed that in the build-up to the 2025 Ryder Cup, it can be a very taxing process but that preparation is key.

He said: “It's fun when you're lifting that trophy, but there's a lot of pressure.

“There's a lot of anxiety. Most nights, you're getting four hours of sleep. It's just a lot. There's so much going on.

“That's why, for me, preparation is key, making sure before you even get there that week that you have pretty much a good idea of what to do and you have a plan A and a plan B and maybe a plan C if things aren't going the way you want.

“That's where the lead-up for this whole 18 months, two years, that's the buildup, to try and get myself in a position where I feel reasonably prepared.

“But it's still a very stressful environment. Being in New York, playing away will be really stressful. But again, it's a very tough challenge to win an away Ryder Cup.”

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans format involves two rounds of four-ball and two rounds of foursomes, alternating each day, as the golfers compete in pairs.

This is the only event on the PGA Tour that involves four-ball and foursome, which is played on the first two days of the Ryder Cup.

Donald believes Europe hold a slight edge when it comes to four-ball and foursomes due to it being played growing up in junior golf in Europe.

The 2025 European Ryder Cup skipper said: “I certainly think it's helped. It's something we grew up with as juniors. We play quite a lot of matches within county matches, within country versus country, in that format.

“Some of these guys have probably not played in that format for many years. So it's nice to get them to have an event like this where they get to refresh some of those memories.

Donald also added he has spoken to some potential Ryder Cup players about playing alongside each other to try and find the chemistry that has worked so well for the team in the past.

Notable pairings at the Zurich Classic this week include the Hojgaard twins, Nicolai and Rasmus, as well as Bob MacIntyre and Thomas Detry, and Jordan Smith with Laurie Canter. 

Donald said: “Certainly at the team cup earlier in the year in January, there were some chats sort of during that week about possible guys playing with who and whether they would want to play in the Zurich.

“Again, I don't like to tell them what to do, that's certainly not my place, their schedule, they need to do what's best for them individually and where they're going to perform at their best.

“But certainly I'll send the odd friendly text, are you thinking about playing Zurich, who are you playing with, maybe if you want, play with this guy.

“There's a little bit of that going on because I think it's another opportunity to sort of find a partner that you might feel very comfortable with and find a little bit of comfort in foursomes, which is a very uncomfortable kind of format.”

Donald admitted that while he will be focusing on playing with Villegas this week, he will also be keeping one eye on his potential Ryder Cup picks.

He said: “It'll be interesting to see how they do. I'll certainly be keeping an eye. I had a few conversations earlier in the year about potential partnerships amongst some of these Europeans that I thought might work.

“But outside of that, once Thursday goes off, I'm just here to play and play as good as I can and hopefully make some good swings for my partner.”