Luke Donald opens up on Ryder Cup singles plan almost backfiring

Leading 11.5-4.5 after the opening two days at Bethpage Black on Long Island, Donald’s side only need three points in the concluding head-to-head matches, yet it took gritty performances from both Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton near the bottom of the order to get the job done after the Americans threated to pull off a record fightback.

In so many respects, it was another brilliant captaincy from Donald, who is now weighing up whether or not to try and make it an unprecedented hat-trick of trophy triumphs, but the Englishman admitted that lessons could be learned from what ended up being an uncomfortable afternoon.

"I can definitely look at the way I did my singles line up and there is always some second guessing yourself,” he said of Ludvig Aberg delivering the sole full point in a session won 8.5-3.5 by the Americans after Europe had come out on top in all four of the sessions beforehand.

"We knew they were going to come out as strong as they could, so we kind of wanted to match them and we did that. For the first six, seven, eight holes, the plan was working tremendously as there was so much blue up on the board. It looked like we could have a record victory at one point.

"But the matches turned and, in the end, you have to take your hats off to the Americans for sticking to it and being gritty in turning around a lot of those close matches at the end.

‘You worry about there being too much red at the top’

"Could I have put a couple of my really strong players at the end against some of their potentially weaker players statistically and guarantee the points we needed? Yeah, maybe and it might have been a little less stressful. But then you worry about there being too much red at the top of the scoreboard and that inspiring the guys further down it.”

As Cameron Young and Justin Thomas both birdied the last to win the top two games then Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun and Ben Griffin also delivered points for Keegan Bradley’s side, it was squeaky bum time for the Europeans before Lowry made a crucial birdie at the 18th for a half point then Tyrrell Hatton clinched the win with another half point.

"It is a very tricky one, especially with a lead like that,” added Donald of how he’d sent out his players. “I think it's almost easier to do a singles line up when it's a bit closer. Usually in my head when we are doing the line ups, I have a pretty clear plan and that one took a little bit longer to talk among the VCs (vice-captains) and try and figure it out.”

Donald would become the first person since Bernard Gallacher to be at the helm for three matches in a row if he decided to stay on again for the 2027 contest at Adare Manor, where Tiger Woods, who is friendly with the County Limerick venue’s owner JP McManus, could lead Team USA into battle.

"No, I don't think so,” replied Donald to being asked if that would make it more appelling him to stay on. “You are doing the captaincy for what you can bring to your team. Tiger is obviously a massive name in the game, though I don't think it is going to make the Ryder Cup any bigger if Tiger is there. The Ryder Cup is massive already and I don't think it would play into my considerations too much.”