Luke Donald's Ryder Cup master plan: chartered planes and sleepovers

Telegraph

13 hours ago

It is no coincidence that Rory McIlroy has called winning an away Ryder Cup match 'golf's new Everest' and that captain Luke Donald has planned a preparatory mission employing the same fundamentals as those expeditions taking on the most demanding climb of all.
'Reconnaissance and acclimatisation' are listed as the basic requirements for the scale and so the blue and gold brigade will head out for a whole week of groundwork before the biennial tussle in New York next month, determined to not only be fully briefed on the challenge that awaits but also to be completely refreshed.
Of course, it has become a staple for Ryder Cup captains to lead their men on fact-finding missions ahead of the big showdown. Yet never before have a visiting side undertaken their two-day inspection behind enemy lines so close to the start of hostilities.
Donald has revealed that a plane has been chartered to fly from London on the evening of Sunday, 15 September, immediately after the BMW PGA Championship has concluded and has let it be known that he wants his 12 golfers to stay on in the country until they assemble at the New York team hotel on Monday, September 23.
There will be no excuses for being ring-rusty – as the Americans were two years ago – no accusations of being underprepared and certainly no chance of using the time difference as a reason for any shortfall.
'For me, it would be ideal to stay in the United States rather than go back and forth and deal with jet-lag,' Donald said at the British Masters on Wednesday. 'The plan is nine holes on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday and then I think we will see the groups hanging out together.
'Some of the players live over there and will want to go back to their homes but there will definitely be a chance for some of them to hang out for a two-week period. We have plans in place for where they will stay.'
With qualification concluding at the Belfry this week, and Donald naming his wildcards on September 1, the definitive dozen is still be decided, but it is expected that about a third of the team will not have a fixed US abode, including Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Bob MacIntyre and Rasmus Hojgaard.
There is the possibility that the likes of Rory McIlroy will put up close friends such as Rose and Fleetwood, although as Donald, himself a neighbour of McIlroy's, explained it is uncomfortably warm and humid in Florida at this time of the year and they may embark on golf trips elsewhere in the US.
Whatever comes to pass, Donald must be confident of what this plan will do for team unity as they attempt to become only the second team in nine matches to prevail on foreign soil. Although, as Matt Fitzpatrick pointed out, the probability of there being the same 12 faces in the Europe team room as two years ago will help to further cement the camaraderie. 'In that sense, I would say that would be a very good thing,' Fitzpatrick said.