The Japan Times - Ryder Cup pairings not 'set in stone', says Europe captain Donald

Sepp Straka is the only member of Donald's 12-man team not in action at this week's PGA Championship at Wentworth, near London.

Rory McIlroy, fresh from his victory at the Irish Open, will play the first two days of the tournament, starting Thursday, alongside Ryder Cup team-mates Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm.

Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose will also be grouped together, along with American defending champion Billy Horschel, while captain's picks Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick go out with Japan's Hideki Matsuyama.

However, Donald, himself playing with Alex Noren and Matteo Manassero, remained coy over whether much could be taken from the groupings at the flagship European Tour event.

"Will you get an idea of my pairings? Well, you can read into it however you want," he told a press conference on Wednesday.

"There will be lots of different groups, different pairings playing together. Again, these things are never always set in stone.

"We always have a plan in place and another plan if things go in a different direction, so we will try and have a lot of options for the week."

Rasmus Hojgaard replaces his twin Nicolai as the only change to the victorious European side from Rome in 2023, which will reassemble in New York to face the United States from September 26-28.

Donald said the Ryder Cup, held every two years, would throw up fresh challenges in what is was expected to be a hostile atmosphere, despite the experience boasted by the European team.

No away side has won the event since Europe staged a remarkable fightback to win 14.5-13.5 at Medinah in 2012.

"This is a different challenge (at Bethpage)," he said. "Some of our advantages from Rome are certainly not advantages anymore.

"Again, a lot of my thinking revolves around crowd management and how we react as a team, but also, I try to approach this in a little bit of a different way in terms of communication amongst the players.

"Instead of just wait until the team is formed and then sort of get my messaging across, that process started 15 months ago."

T.Sasaki--JT