On Monday morning I got the chance to sit down with former No. 1 ranked golfer and the world and current captain of the European Ryder Cup team, Luke Donald.
Obviously, I had to start the interview with his thoughts on last week's shocking news that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and the LIV Golf League would be merging.
"There's still lots of questions to be answered and how this will work with the merger and all these things. From my standpoint, it just appears it's a commercial merger. This isn't merging the tours into one. This is about using a source of money to create opportunities in the game of golf.
"I think there are obviously it was becoming a long battle, a legal battle, between PGA Tour and LIV and it was costing a significant amount of resources that the PGA Tour had to change their strategy when LIV came about as a competitor. They had to increase money to the players and that was baring down on some of their reserves I suppose and they looked to finally get in the room with the Saudis and figure out what they wanted and figuring out the best way forward for the game of golf."
Donald was named the Ryder Cup captain for the European Team for this year's Ryder Cup after Henrik Stenson was stripped of his captaincy when he decided to sign with LIV. I asked Luke on if the merger will change anything in terms of allowing LIV golfers on this year's team.
"I'm obviously at the mercy of the European Tour rules and regulations. To be eligible for me to pick them you have to be a member of the European Tour, so obviously a month or two ago a bunch of guys, because of the ruling that happened in April in favor of the European Tour, where they were able to impose those sanctions for people playing LIV. Because of that, certain players decided to resign their membership and once they do that, unfortunately they're not available for me for selection."
So no, it sounds like despite the announced merger, we won't see the likes of Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, or anyone else who has signed with LIV.
Speaking of the Ryder Cup, I asked him if there's one name of a golfer who we should be keeping an eye on for the European Team. Someone not named Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, or any of the obvious choices.
"I'll put one out there. Adrian Meronk, just because he won in Italy, he won on the Ryder Cup course. Obviously he finished second three years before that, so having that sort of form doesn't go against him when thinking about my picks."
As a betting man, I had to ask him if we should be betting on the European Team as almost 2/1 underdogs at this year's event.
"Well, many times we're underdogs and we don't mind being underdogs. I think on paper that's usually the case, but we always come together as a team and put our strengths to their best use. I certainly have a lot of faith in my team."
Luke Donald is partnered with Airwayz.com, a subscription-based digital resource for competitive and recreational athletes. Donald has plenty of content on the site including lesson videos focusing on the short game aspect of golf.
Check out the video above for the full interview.
