Luke Donald will be looking to lead Team Europe to glory over their American rivals once again at the 2025 Ryder Cup next month.
Donald captained Europe to a superb win in Rome two years ago as Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood starred in a brilliant event.
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It followed on from the USA’s dominant victory at Whistling Straits in 2021 and sets up an intriguing match-up at Bethpage Black in late September.
The last Ryder Cup was full of needle and controversy off the course as well as sublime action on it.
That is sure to continue as the rowdy crowds of New York welcome golf’s best for the prestigious team event.
Winning an away Ryder Cup is one of the hardest things to do in sport, but Europe will be full of confidence to do just that.
With still a few weeks to go before the opening tee shot, here’s how the teams are shaping up…
Ryder Cup 2025 predicted teams
Team USA
The 2011 US Open champion Keegan Bradley, who is only 39 years old, will captain USA in a decision that surprised many.
Bradley won the Travelers Championship in June and is in the unusual situation where he could yet become an automatic qualifier or legitimately warrant a pick.
Bradley has stated he is keen to become the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 and that situation is looking increasingly likely.
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Should he do so, he will likely hand over several of his captaincy duties to his vice-captains who are Jim Furyk, Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker and Gary Woodland.
In any case, Bradley’s team will be made up of six qualifiers and six captain’s picks.
Team USA’s qualifiers were fully confirmed following the conclusion of the recent BMW Championship and Bradley will confirm his picks on Wednesday, August 27 after the season-ending TOUR Championship.
As ever, USA have a plethora of world-class talent to choose from.
Open Championship winner and world number one Scottie Scheffler confirmed his place on the team first following another dominant year from the 29-year-old.
US Open champion JJ Spaun and two-time major winner Xander Schauffele were next to qualify outright.
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And they have been joined by Bryson DeChambeau, Russell Henley and Harris English in making the team outright.
In terms of who Bradley could pick, Justin Thomas will surely make the team while Cameron Young, Ben Griffin, Brian Harman, Andrew Novak and Chris Gotterup have enjoyed fine seasons.
Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Brooks Koepka are Ryder Cup veterans but have been less impressive in recent months.
Other names high up in the PGA of America’s rankings table include Sam Burns, Maverick McNealy, Wyndham Clark, Akshay Bhatia and Lucas Glover.
Bradley himself is 11th in the US rankings following his win at the Travelers.
Team USA will also be considering some more household names who are in less promising form, including Jordan Spieth, Max Homa, Tony Finau and Rickie Fowler.
There’s then the option to draft in more LIV Golf players – Patrick Reed performed well at The Masters, while Dustin Johnson won five points from five at Whistling Straits in 2021.
Here’s talkSPORT.com’s predicted line-up for Team USA…
Automatic qualifiers
- Scottie Scheffler (Qualification confirmed)
- JJ Spaun (Qualification confirmed)
- Xander Schauffele (Qualification confirmed)
- Russell Henley (Qualification confirmed)
- Harris English (Qualification confirmed)
- Bryson DeChambeau (Qualification confirmed)
Captain’s picks
- Justin Thomas
- Collin Morikawa
- Keegan Bradley (player captain)
- Ben Griffin
- Patrick Cantlay
- Cameron Young
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Team Europe
Donald – helped by his vice-captains Thomas Bjorn, Edoardo Molinari, Jose Maria Olazabal and Francesco Molinari – will also make his team up of six qualifiers and six captain’s picks.
Europe’s qualifiers will be set after this week’s Betfred British Masters with Donald to announce his selections on Monday, September 1.
Donald will likely keep the core of his Rome team intact for Bethpage Black and has a host of star names in form.
McIlroy, who won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam in April, will of course lead the Europeans once more and has confirmed his qualification.
Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood secured their qualification following the recent FedEx St. Jude Championship in which Rose claimed victory and Fleetwood finished third.
Robert MacIntyre and Tyrrell Hatton then followed suit leaving one automatic spot open ahead of the British Masters.
Shane Lowry currently holds that spot but is set to be leapfrogged by Rasmus Hojgaard who is playing at the Belfry this week.
Hojgaard, who has played well this year and finished as runner-up at the Danish Golf Championship last Sunday, only needs a T29 finish to confirm his place at Bethpage.
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Once the automatic places are confirmed, Donald’s six picks will surely include Jon Rahm despite his LIV Golf links.
Rahm was crowned as the LIV Golf individual champion for the second consecutive year last weekend.
Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland and Sepp Straka are all but shoo-ins too.
Matt Fitzpatrick’s form has turned around at the perfect time and the 2022 US Open champion knows how to play elite PGA Tour golf which will likely see him picked.
Matt Wallace, Marco Penge, Aaron Rai, Thomas Detry, Jordan Smith and Harry Hall are also high up on Ryder Cup Europe’s rankings list.
And looking further afield, Donald will also have been considering Nicolai Hojgaard, who played in Rome, as well as other LIV stars such as Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters and Adrian Meronk.
Here’s talkSPORT.com’s predicted line-up for Team Europe…
Automatic qualifiers
- Rory McIlroy (Qualification confirmed)
- Justin Rose (Qualification confirmed)
- Tommy Fleetwood (Qualification confirmed)
- Robert MacIntyre (Qualification confirmed)
- Tyrrell Hatton (Qualification confirmed)
- Rasmus Hojgaard
Captain’s picks
- Shane Lowry
- Sepp Straka
- Jon Rahm
- Viktor Hovland
- Ludvig Aberg
- Matt Fitzpatrick
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