Does Ryder Cup captaincy lead to nightmares — literally? Luke Donald’s had 1

Luke Donald’s nightmares may be over. 

Nightmares? 

Didn’t the man just captain the European Ryder Cup team to a road victory, two years after captaining the Euros to a home win, which, by all measures, is the dream scenario?

Indeed. And the success was certainly sublime to Donald. But to get there took work. Or, maybe more accurately, work work, which apparently came all the way to bed with Donald, making for an interesting revelation on Tuesday ahead of the DP World Tour’s event in India. It came after a reporter had asked the former world No. 1 player how he was adjusting to readying for tournament golf just a couple weeks after the Ryder Cup. 

“To be honest, I’m not sure if I have,” Donald said. “Yeah, it happened after Rome [two years ago], and it’s kind of the same with this one.”

Why was that?

“The captaincy really does — the lead-up to the Ryder Cup, you’re spending five or six weeks just thinking about all kinds of different things, partnerships, pairings, the golf course, the gifting,” he said.  

“There’s just so much that goes into it that your mind is kind of clogged.”

How so? 

It’s in your head even when your eyes are closed. 

“I’ve had many nights where I’ve woken up with Ryder Cup dreams,” Donald said, “and things where I had forgotten my radio one night and there’s still one game out on the course and I was panicking and I was trying to get to the game. Just things like that. It just takes a little bit of time for you to settle down.

“I think actually coming here, playing a tournament will actually help. It will get my mind more back on what I need to do this week.

“It’s a fun problem to have after a win in the Ryder Cup, but I’m excited to get back to playing.”

Tuesday, Donald was also asked a few other Ryder Cup questions. 

– He answered what qualities would make Rory McIlroy a good fit for the Ryder Cup captaincy.

“Well, just the fact that he loves the Ryder Cup more than anything,” Donald said. “He made it quite evident that winning an away Ryder Cup would really be the icing on an amazing year that he had this year.

“Yeah, he loves what it represents. You’ve seen the emotion from losing to winning. Anyone that has that passion for a Ryder Cup, I think, would make a good captain.”

– He was asked whether he would captain in 2027, and he gave his reaction to the thought that he was being called Europe’s greatest captain. 

“Well, I’m trying to still enjoy this one, whether it be a captain or whether I’m not a captain,” Donald said. “If I’m not a captain in two years’ time and the captain wants me to be there, then I’m sure I would be happy to help him in any way he wanted.

“Yeah, it’s pretty humbling when someone says you’re the greatest captain. Maybe it’s a little bit of a reaction in the present moment, but I certainly — I’ve given a lot to it. I’m very happy with the results that came with it, but you need those 12 players. You need the back room teams. You need the vice captains. You need so many others to make that happen.

“Certainly I play a role, but I play a small role in terms of a larger picture. I certainly couldn’t do it without the amazing support we have behind me.”

– A reporter then suggested that Donald needed to motivate the European squad, before asking how a person would produce a winner.

“Well, I disagree a little bit. I don’t think my job is to motivate them,” Donald said. “These are highly motivated players. The Ryder Cup means a lot, and my job is to kind of create a little bit of cohesion, make sure we bring all these players together under a common theme and get them inspired to make them want to win.

“We talk a lot about our history. We talk a lot about the players that came before us. We talk about our role as ambassadors of the game to inspire the next generations.

“I think the Ryder Cup has very deep meaning for a lot of these players, and it brings out the best in them. So that’s my job, really, is to kind of create that culture, that environment, where they feel that they can compete at a very high level because of what’s at stake.”