2025 Ryder Cup update: Captain Luke Donald announces Paul McGinley as strategic advisor for European Team
The return of the Ryder Cup is more than a year away, but Team Europe captain Luke Donald has not stopped organizing the preparation. Donald announced on Thursday, June 6, the appointment of a new member of the management team.
It is Paul McGinley, whom Donald announced as his strategic advisor for the 2025 Ryder Cup. McGinley has a very long and successful track record at the biennial event, both as a player and as captain.
"Paul [McGinley] is someone whose thoughts and opinions on golf I have always respected," Donald said, according to Golf Monthly. "He is someone that you have to listen to when talk turns to the Ryder Cup. Naturally, I am delighted to have him formally involved with the 2025 team."
McGinley, for his part, had this to say after learning of his appointment:
"It is clear we have built a very strong template for winning at home in Ryder Cups but I see my job as helping Luke, his vice-captains and his backroom team to look at an away match differently to how we’ve looked at it before."
Luke Donald had previously informed that Edoardo Molinari and Thomas Bjorn will repeat as two of his four vice captains for the 2025 Ryder Cup. The event will be held on American soil and will be hosted by Bethpage Black.
Luke Donald led the European team to a brilliant victory in the 2023 edition. The score at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy, favored the Europeans by 16.5 to 11.5.
Looking back at Paul McGinley's Ryder Cup career
Paul McGinley played golf professionally (at the open level) between 1991 and the mid-2010s. He has 10 professional victories, four of them on the European Tour.
But his biggest impact on European golf came through his exceptional Ryder Cup performances. McGinley participated as a player in three editions (2002, 2004, 2006) and was always champion.
His performance includes the contribution of 4.5 points in nine matches, but he had several outstanding performances in decisive moments. His 10-foot putt in the 2002 individual match against Jim Furyk, which gave victory to Europe, is well remembered.
Also particularly famous is the moment when he conceded the putt to J. J. Henry on the 18th hole of the individual match of the 2006 edition, to finish tied. A protester had walked onto the green interrupting the American's preparation, and McGinley did not see fit that Henry could miss his putt because of this incident.
McGinley served as vice captain in 2010 and 2012, and as captain in the 2014 edition, becoming the first Irishman to hold this responsibility. In 2014, the European team won with a score of 16.5 to 11.5, and McGinley excelled at using statistics and other modern resources to make his decisions.