Europe’s Rookie-Filled Ryder Cup Roster is Officially Complete (With a Few Surprises)

Luke Donald was filmed on the phone earlier today, informing his captain’s picks of the good news.

Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Nicolai Hojgaard and Ludvig Aberg answered the call.

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It was honestly pretty funny, in the true Scandinavian style (think Henrik Stenson sounding monotonous) – Aberg and Hojgaard graciously accepted their invitation, but it wasn’t the over-excited celebration that most would probably expect. That likely happened afterwards.

The European side is youthful, and facing a mountain to climb after the catastrophic defeat of 2021 – we know all this.

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However, I can’t help but feeling there is momentum in the European side as they make their way over to Rome.

Nicolai Hojgaard is young and in-form, posting great results at the Czech and European Masters. 

Ludvig Aberg is the same; after his breakthrough win this past weekend. Aberg is as good a player as any right now, making headlines being the first player to tee it up in a Ryder Cup without playing in a major championship. I have a feeling they’ll pair him with Rory – re-enacting the famous McIlroy-Pieters success of 2016.

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Sepp Straka has played well for a long time, with a runaway victory that included a huge swathe of birdies at the John Deere.

Lowry, Fleetwood and Rose all bring experience and good synchronization with the automatic selections. All have had good seasons, despite Lowry going off the boil in the latter part. Fleetwood was on the cusp of automatic qualification, before being snubbed by Bob Mac after the European Masters.

The largest surprise (to most) was Adrian Meronk being left at home. The 6’6 Polish international has had success at the Marco Simone last year, as well as a string of top performances including two wins.

He seemed to be a lock for the team, and posted a minimalist ‘Good luck to Team Europe’ on his social media page. If Europe go down – Donald will take heat for one he perhaps should’ve selected.

🚨#STUNNING MOVE 🇵🇱 — Adrian Meronk has been snubbed by Luke Donald of a Captains pick:
— Won Italian Open in May ‘23 at Marco Simone (The Ryder Cup venue)
— Won Australian Open in Dec ‘22
— Won the Irish Open in July ‘22
— Top 25 finish at the ‘23 Open Championship, T17 at Match… pic.twitter.com/m3T7xSPCQs

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) September 4, 2023

Team USA is still strong, and for all the arguments around ‘team chemistry’ there are still some serious individuals there that can win regardless of the pairings.

It will be a Rookie Ryder Cup for the ages, with most of Europe’s experienced names left out due to their LIV involvement, and a whole host of new names on both sides of the teamsheet this time around.

Who’s your money on?

Cover Image via Twitter