“We are stronger in foursomes within our team” - Luke Donald discusses his strategy in the upcoming Ryder Cup in Rome

Luke Donald will lead Team Europe at the upcoming Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome later this week. After representing the team in four editions as a player, which they won, he will be eying on another victory, this time as a captain.

While speaking in a press conference before the mega event, Donald was quite confident that his team to get to a fast start in the first four foursome matches on Friday. As quoted by the Ryder Cup official website, he said:

"Pretty simple really. We feel like as a team, statistically we are stronger in foursomes within our team than we would be in four-balls. Why not get off to a fast start? That's it."

Initially, the prestigious biennial event always kicked off with four fourballs matches. But since the last edition in 2021, the format changed slightly and the morning session now has four foursome matches.

As a matter of fact, Team Europe has not lost a single Ryder Cup in their home venue since 1993. yet the United States are favorite heading into the Marco Simone Golf Club.

Luke Donald, however, isn't concerned with the favorites tag. While speaking of his belief in his team, the 45-year-old Englishman said:

"As Captain, you have to be confident. I certainly have a lot of belief in my team, I know it's going to be a difficult next few days, it really is."

However, he agreed that the United States is a really strong side. Although they have strong players and higher rankings in the OWGR, Luke Donald is confident that his team will pull out something impressive and win the upcoming Ryder Cup in Rome.

"The U.S. Team are really strong, we know that. We are coming off our worst defeat ever in a Ryder Cup. U.S. players are strong, they're high up in the world rankings," Donald said.

They have some great partnerships, have had a lot of success so we will have our work cut out, but you have to have belief in your team that you're going to get them into a place where they can be successful," he added.

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"It was a very admirable comeback" - Luke Donald hopes to draw inspiration from the Solheim Cup-winning Team Europe

Suzann Pettersen's European side made a strong comeback against Stacy Lewis' United States team at Finca Cortesin in the 2023 Solheim Cup on Sunday. Despite being 4-0 behind the visitors, they held on to their nerves and went on to score level 14-14 by the end of all singles matches to retain their title for a third consecutive time.

Luke Donald further shared that it was truly a tough start for the Europeans but the comeback was really admirable.

"Obviously after a very tough start, and going down 4-0 to the U.S., I thought it was a very admirable comeback. Some great golf by both teams," Donald said.

Luke Donald concluded by saying that the women's team retaining the Solheim Cup title for the third consecutive time would bring in a lot of inspiration for his men at the upcoming Ryder Cup in Rome.