Rose Adds Support For Another Donald Captaincy
The modern-day Ryder Cup captaincy is a strange one in that, however well you carry out the role, you will almost never do it again.
In recent years we've seen the brilliant leaders like Paul McGinley, Bernhard Langer and Paul Azinger record iconic wins before handing over to the next man. In Azinger's case he put an end to a run of three European victories, two of them by nine points, but he then passed the baton to Corey Pavin in Wales.
Now, after Europe turned a 10-point loss in 2021 into a five-point success in Rome, everyone is seemingly getting behind Luke Donald for a second stint in the hot seat. To win a Ryder Cup at home is one thing but to do it on foreign soil, something that has only happened twice in the past 13 exchanges.
The players would chant 'two more years' in praise of Donald and Shane Lowry has since added his support. And now Justin Rose, who will surely be captain in the coming years, backed his countryman once again this week to carry on at Bethpage in 2025.
"I don't make the decisions, but if Luke wants it then he should get it," Rose told Sky Sports ahead of his own Telegraph Junior Golf Championship. "There's so much learning that goes into being a Ryder Cup captain and after all the things that he has learned over the last two years, it would be a shame not to put into play once again next time around.
"I think the job would seem a lot easier for him second time around. I think as a home team captain there's a lot of responsibility and you have to do a lot of extra organising, as you've got to think about course set-up, the events and the hosting side of things. Being an away captain, you can focus on the team but a lot of the other stuff is for the other side to do, so I think coming in second time around it might feel like a bit of a straightforward mission for Luke. I would definitely be a big advocate for that."
Rose, who was one of Donald's picks, added that the captain's calm but competitive nature served his team very well as he oversaw an opening morning's whitewash which set up three days of European dominance.
"Luke was himself, which I think is the most important thing. Luke has always been unassuming in stature but obviously very intelligent, very smart and a hell of a competitor underneath that exterior of him coming across as quite laid back. He brought all of those attributes into the team room but he never got too intense, which I think put a lot of the players at ease. He was so organised and everything was just in place, so there was never any panic or fluster.
"His messaging was consistent and on point all the time, so that just gave the team a very clear plan. He had a plan and he executed his plan brilliantly, so the players could get behind it, get on board on it and there was no reactiveness going on."
Rose of course played a pivotal role in the victory, chaperoning Bob MacIntyre over the first couple of days to a win and a half in the fourballs, and he also pointed to the fact that Europe's big guns really stepped up in Rome to bolster the four rookies in the side.
"This time around was really a new-look European team but what I loved about it was how the top end of it was the best players in the world. We had Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland, so three of the top four players in the world and all in good form. I really felt like the firepower at the top-end of our team was unbelievable and then I felt like we had a great engine room.
"Guys like Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton, who are world-class players and were all playing really well. Then you add the likes of myself in for a bit of experience and you blend in some of the new young talent that was coming through, the likes of Ludvig [Åberg], Nicolai Hojgaard and obviously Bob MacIntyre. The European team has a bit of a face for the future now and I felt like it was really nice in the way we all just jelled together. Luke obviously deserves a lot of credit really for how he got our team building and bonding going."