With less than six months to go now until the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, preparations are in full swing both on and off the golf course for what promises to be another iconic contest.
In terms of inside the ropes, it has been a particularly strong start to the calendar year for our European players on the world stage. So often, the incentive of a Ryder Cup brings out the best in our players, but this year there have already been five victories on the PGA TOUR by four players hoping to be part of Luke Donald’s 12-man team in September.
European’s Finding Their Form
Sepp Straka, Rory McIlroy, Thomas Detry and Ludvig Åberg each won in a superb five week stretch, before Rory then became the first European to win The PLAYERS Championship twice with a play-off victory at TPC Sawgrass.
With Tyrrell Hatton, who has played in the last three Ryder Cups, also winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, and Laurie Canter continuing the great form he showed in the Team Cup in Abu Dhabi with victory in the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, there has been plenty for our Captain Luke Donald to be pleased about so far this year.
Away from the course, we have regular meetings with Luke as part of our planning and preparation. Those meetings cover a wide range of subjects, from designing the team uniforms and concepts for our team rooms, to the logistics of the schedule of events for the week itself.
Winning Culture
The intention from our perspective is to make everything as easy as possible for the players to simply concentrate on doing what they do best – playing golf. We also work closely with Luke to cultivate the unique culture that he – and previous Captains – have created which has underpinned Team Europe’s success in the Ryder Cup.
That culture was showcased in our behind-the-scenes documentary, Una Famiglia, released at the end of last year. There will naturally be some adaptations, both for the Luke and the Team and our own staff, due to the unique challenge of winning away in New York, but the core elements of what happened in Rome remain.
Clearly, having previously worked so closely with Luke previously in 2023 helps in that sense, and we are pleased with how everything is coming together at this stage as we approach the first Major Championship of the 2025 season.
Major Focus
The Masters Tournament at Augusta National is traditionally seen as a key milestone in the calendar for golfers in Europe where the weather doesn’t allow us to play all year round like you can in the Middle East. Like the Ryder Cup and the other three Majors, it’s also when many casual fans pay more attention to our sport and golf enters the mainstream.
As custodians of the Ryder Cup brand in Europe, we’re very conscious of how important the biennial contest is in attracting new fans to golf. We place a lot of emphasis on ensuring we appeal to both core fans as well as those who have maybe heard about the event’s iconic atmosphere and drama and want to experience it for themselves, either in person or via our broadcast.
Therefore, as well as finalising our preparations for Bethpage, we are also working hard behind the scenes on our plans for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in Ireland, which will be the 100th anniversary of the Ryder Cup.
Looking Ahead To 2027
We recently joined Tourism Ireland in hosting a Ryder Cup Business Forum at Ireland House in the MetLife Building in New York, welcoming a wide range of representatives from across our commercial family to look ahead to 2027. Our team have also been speaking with local groups in Adare village and Limerick because the Ryder Cup always seeks to leave as positive and enduring legacy in the communities which host us.
Excitement is certainly growing in Ireland, which last hosted the Ryder Cup in 2006. We would love to retain the Ryder Cup in New York and ensure it is in European possession when the hosting baton is officially handed over to Adare Manor on the evening of Sunday September 29.
By Richard Atkinson,
Chief Ryder Cup Officer, Europe
