Luke Donald does not appear to be ruling out a potential third stint as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain.
The former world no1 led his side to a remarkable 15-13 victory on a dramatic final day in New York to follow their commanding triumph in Rome two years ago.
USA counterpart Keegan Bradley called Donald the greatest European captain in Ryder Cup history after he joined Tony Jacklin as only the second-ever to win golf’s most famous team event both at home and away, with Jacklin having done so at The Belfry in 1985 and Muirfield Village in 1987 before a draw in 1989 that saw Europe retain the trophy.
Donald was serenaded with chants of “two more years” from the travelling fans throughout Sunday night’s jubilant celebrations at Bethpage Black, with the likes of Jon Rahm admitting how much they would like him to stay on as skipper heading into the 2027 competition at Adare Manor in County Limerick, Ireland.
Donald initially said he would like to enjoy a momentous win before contemplating his future in a first on-course interview, and was then asked the same questions again before the trophy lift.
As fans continued to sing “two more years”, he said: “I don’t think my heart can take two more years.”
Asked if that was a no, he said only: “We’ll see.”
Only Europe’s fifth-ever win on American soil in the Ryder Cup and first since the famous ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012 came despite an incredible late fightback from the USA, who defied their shock struggles over the first two days to threaten their own miracle response.
“That was probably the most stressful 12 hours of my life,” Donald admitted, having watched his previously dominant team win only one of 11 singles matches before half-points from Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton saw them over the line.
“I must congratulate Team USA and captain Keegan for the amazing job they did and fight they showed. It was incredible.
“But we got it done and that’s the most important thing. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys, they gave it everything. They gave it all and to win in New York they said probably couldn’t be done. But we did it.
“We’d only won four away Ryder Cups, our mission was to come here and win five. Only 37 players had ever won away. Now we have 47.
“This is for Europe. This is for the legends that came before us. This is for the future generations who will be talking about this team for a long time.”
Donald said on-course: “We knew (USA) would be tough, we didn’t think they would be this tough on Sunday. They fought so hard and all the respect to them.
“But this means a lot, to me and the team. We came here knowing that the task was going to be very difficult.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. What they’ve gone through, how they’ve come together, how they’re playing for history, how they’re playing for people who came before them.
“And now they will go down in history. I couldn’t be more proud.”
