Padraig Harrington let the cat out of the bag that Englishman Luke Donald will be one of his vice captains for this fall’s European Ryder Cup team at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Harrington, Europe’s captain, made his faux pas while making a guest appearance on Sky Sports’ “The Golf Show,” on Tuesday. It was a humorous moment as he tried in vain to correct himself before giving up and breaking into laughter, and saying, “That’s not to be announced yet.”
Well, as breaking news goes, learning the identity of a team cart driver ranks up there with man does not bite dog. But it does matter in one sense. It makes official that Donald is in the pipeline for the next wave of European captains in the biennial event.
Donald, 42, has played on four winning European Ryder Cup teams in as many appearances. He also cut his teeth as an assistant under the tutelage of victorious Captain Thomas Bjorn in 2018.
Donald will join Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, who already had been officially announced as the first of Harrington’s able assistants. Karlsson enjoyed a fine playing career and will make a good foot soldier, but he’s unlikely to receive much consideration for a future captaincy through no fault of his own.
The succession plan for Team Europe is told in its vice captains, and there’s quite the backlog. Harrington, 48, served three tours of duty as a captain’s sidekick before being elevated to the top job. The three-time major winner campaigned publicly for the role and seems well-suited for it. Englishman Lee Westwood stepped aside to allow Harrington to have his chance and is considered the favorite for Italy in 2022. With the recent resurgence of his game, Westwood could be in line to play in his 11th Ryder Cup.
After 2022, the Euros have an embarrassment of riches to choose from as potential captains, all of whom are pushing 40 (Justin Rose) or not far removed from that mark: Paul Casey, Donald, Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Rose and Henrik Stenson. That should fill Team Europe’s dance card for quite some time. Poulter vs. Phil Mickelson at Bethpage Black in New York in 2024 would be explosive, and Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell likely will be the sentimental pick for 2026 at Adare Manor in Ireland. It gets murky trying to figure out the lineup from there, but Donald’s appointment as one of Harrington’s lieutenants suggests he will continue to be given full consideration.
As Bjorn conceded during an interview at the 2018 Ryder Cup, “Someone will have to miss out.”
If the Ryder Cup is contested as planned from Sept. 25-27, Donald will have his second chance to learn in the trenches before possibly ascending to the captaincy some day.
