Luke Donald will be looking to lead Team Europe to glory over their American rivals once again at the 2025 Ryder Cup later this year.
Donald captained Europe to a superb win in Rome two years ago as Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood starred in a brilliant event.
It followed USA’s dominant victory at Whistling Straits in 2021 and sets up an intriguing match-up at Bethpage Black this September.
The last Ryder Cup was full of needle and controversy off the course as well as sublime action on it.
That is sure to continue as the rowdy crowds of New York welcome golf’s best for the prestigious team event.
Winning an away Ryder Cup is one of the hardest things to do in sport, but Europe will be full of confidence to do just that.
With still a few weeks to go before the opening tee shot, here’s how the teams are shaping up…
How the 2025 Ryder Cup teams could look
Team USA
The 2011 US Open champion Keegan Bradley, who is only 39 years old, will captain USA in a decision that surprised many.
Bradley won the Travelers Championship in June and is in the unusual situation where he could yet become an automatic qualifier or legitimately warrant a pick.
Bradley has stated he is keen to become the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 and that situation is looking increasingly likely.
Should he do so, he will likely hand over several of his captaincy duties to his vice-captains who are Jim Furyk, Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker.
In any case, Bradley’s team will be made up of six qualifiers and six captain’s picks.
Team USA’s qualifiers will be fully confirmed following the conclusion of this year’s BMW Championship on August 17 and Bradley will confirm his picks the following week.
As ever, USA have a plethora of world-class talent to choose from.
Open Championship winner and world number one Scottie Scheffler has already confirmed his place on the team.
At the time of writing, Scheffler will be joined by US Open champion JJ Spaun plus Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Russell Henley and Harris English in making the team outright.
In terms of who Bradley could pick, Ben Griffin, Brian Harman and Justin Thomas have enjoyed fine seasons so far, while Patrick Cantlay and Brooks Koepka are Ryder Cup veterans.
Other names high up in the PGA of America’s rankings table include Sam Burns, Maverick McNealy, Andrew Novak, Tom Hoge, and Cameron Young.
Bradley himself is tenth in the US rankings following his win at the Travelers.
Team USA will also be considering some more household names who are in less promising form, including Jordan Spieth, Max Homa, Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala.
There’s then the option to draft in more LIV Golf players – Patrick Reed performed well at The Masters, while Dustin Johnson won five points from five at Whistling Straits in 2021.
Assuming the automatic qualifiers stay as they are currently, here’s talkSPORT.com’s predicted line-up for Team USA…
Automatic qualifiers
- Scottie Scheffler (Qualification confirmed)
- Xander Schauffele
- JJ Spaun
- Russell Henley
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Harris English
Captain’s picks
- Justin Thomas
- Collin Morikawa
- Keegan Bradley (player captain)
- Ben Griffin
- Patrick Cantlay
- Sam Burns
Team Europe
Donald will also make his team up of six qualifiers and six captain’s picks.
Europe’s qualifiers will be set after the Betfred British Masters on August 24 with Donald to announce his selections the following week.
Donald will likely keep the core of his Rome team intact for Bethpage Black and has a host of star names in form.
McIlroy, who won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam in April, will of course lead the Europeans once more and has already confirmed his qualification.
The other automatic qualifiers then currently include plenty of star power, with Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka set to make the team outright.
From there, Donald will surely pick Jon Rahm despite his LIV Golf links.
Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland and Justin Rose are all but shoo-ins while Rasmus Hojgaard has played well this year.
Matt Fitzpatrick’s form has turned around at the perfect time and the 2022 US Open champion knows how to play elite PGA Tour golf which will likely see him picked.
Matt Wallace, Aaron Rai, Thomas Detry, Niklas Norgaard, Laurie Canter, Paul Waring and Thorbjorn Olesen are also high up on Ryder Cup Europe’s rankings list.
And looking further afield, Donald will also likely be considering Nicolai Hojgaard, who played in Rome, as well as other LIV stars such as Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters and Adrian Meronk.
Again, should the automatic qualifiers remain the same, here’s talkSPORT.com’s predicted line-up for Team Europe…
Automatic qualifiers
- Rory McIlroy (Qualification confirmed)
- Robert MacIntyre
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Shane Lowry
- Sepp Straka
Captain’s picks
- Justin Rose
- Jon Rahm
- Viktor Hovland
- Ludvig Aberg
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Rasmus Hojgaard