Europe’s Luke Donald gets advice from Michael Jordan

Farmingdale, NY – Long before Luke Donald was the European Captain of the Ryder Cup, he was a amateur golfer in the northwest in the late 1990s and in the early 2000s. This time in the Chicago region, rided the end of the end of the apogee of Michael Jordan to win six NBA titles with the Bulls.

Jordan liked to play golf course, and the two have become friends and stay it, now living nearby in Florida. Donald did not let this connection get lost.

“Michael is someone to whom I had the chance to have access and choose his brain from time to time what made him vibrate, what motivated him, how he was able to make the most of himself,” said Donald on Tuesday. “It’s good to have someone who is a legend of his sport – the biggest of all time, quite – sit from time to time and choose your brain.”

Donald expects Jordan to support the United States at the Ryder Cup this week. But one of the lessons in the MJ’s career – which occurred in the documentary “Last Dance” that Donald watched during the pandemic with countless others – could help in the role of the captain.

“You can be a team of champions but not a championship team,” said Donald. “You always need people around you. You are always stronger as a collective. This is something that I have certainly taken from him, and I tried to set up in my teams the last two times that we are always stronger.”

Trump in contact

President Donald Trump loves his golf course and remains in contact with the players he knows. Scottie Scheffler is on this list.

“I receive an appeal or SMS of him sometimes after victories,” said Scheffler, who has won 15 times in the past two years only, six times since Trump has returned to the Oval Office.

“He just likes golf game, and he is one of those guys when you are around him, he does such a good job to feed everyone around him.”

Asked what type of Trump message sends, Scheffler said: “Excellent work.”

Trump plans to attend the opening session on Friday, although the PGA in America was still waiting to nail the logistics of his arrival. One possibility was later in the morning to avoid any disturbance for fans on the course.

The matches cannot afford any delay because there are two sessions to enter before sunset.

“I don’t think he intends to address us as a team, but I’m sure if things go well, we will hear from him this week,” said Scheffler.

The opening ceremony has increased

The bad weather in the forecasts forced the officials of the Ryder Cup to go up the opening ceremony from a day to Wednesday at Bethpage Black.

The great opportunity of the opening ceremony is generally Thursday afternoon, during which the captains announce their alignments for the first session on Friday.

Now, the ceremony, organized by the co-host of “Today”, Carson Daly and the former Miss America Kira Dixon, will take place on Wednesday at 3 pm, when the players enter the arena in a big fanfare. Those who have tickets on Thursday will be allowed to use them on Wednesday.

The pairs of the foursoma opening session on Friday will still be announced Thursday afternoon.

New place for the “Warning” sign of Bethpage

Players who go to the first tee will not have to look far for a reminder of the difficulty of Bethpage Black.

The emblematic warning panel of the course, generally affixed to a fence behind the first tee, was moved this week on the foot bridge that takes players from the training area to the golf course. He will be just above them, displayed at the back of a massive platform while they enter a tunnel which cuts the stands of the opening hole.

“The black route is an extremely difficult course that we only recommend to highly qualified golfers,” says the panel, which has salutes the pros and the duffers during the public course for decades.

The reason for the relocation of this week was quite simple: a massive forum with seats for thousands of fans and views of the first and 18th holes now covers the fence where the sign is generally. The PGA of America always wanted it to be visible to celebrate the heritage of this sign and its recall of the reputation of the dark.

A drawback: it could be difficult – even extremely difficult – for fans to obtain photos and selfies with the sign, which is so associated during Long Island that it appears on some of the goods of the Ryder Cup.

But there is a massive replica of the sign on the way that fans take and leave the golf course. And if that is not enough, there is a huge Ryder Cup trophy, suitable for selfies.

Road inheritance of Europe

Europe generally wins the day when it is a question of relying on its history in the Ryder Cup, and this week is no exception.

One of the videos that the Europe team has gathered for motivation is called “our time.” Our place ”. He celebrates the 37 players who played in the four teams that won on American soil.

Donald, who played in the teams who won at Oakland Hills (2004) and Medinah (2012), will try to join Bernhard Langer having played two victories on the road and in the captain. Langer was one of the 1987 teams (Village of Muirfield) and 1995 (Oak Hill) and was the captain of 2004.

Another European victory this week with Bethpage Black would allow 10 other players to join the list of road winners. Rory McILroy and Justin Rose were part of the Medinah team.

Doug Ferguson of AP contributed.