Golf
Ryder Cup hopeful warns European captain Donald: “That can’t be an excuse this time”
England’s Matt Wallace has warned European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald lack of experience at the host venue ‘can’t be an excuse’ if he is omitted from the 2025 team.
Wallace made the claim in an interview with Sky Sports where as he opened up on the bitter disappointment of being overlooked in 2018.
Back then, Team Europe had Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn at the helm and he decided that Wallace was too much of a risk to be one of his captain’s picks.
Wallace had spent the weeks and months prior to the match thinking that he had done enough to get in, he said, only to be left disappointed.
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“Dave McNeilly was caddying for me at the time,” Wallace said.
“And he was like, ‘We’re in’.
“He was telling me we were in so we obviously thought we would get there [and, at the time] I couldn’t really understand why we didn’t.
“But now I look back and I go okay, [I was] a rookie. They went on to win, a great win, having Sergio there with most points in a Ryder Cup.
“Those sorts of things I understand more now [and] I’d never played against the big stars really on a constant basis.
“It would have been a little bit of a risk for Thomas – I’m not saying I couldn’t have done it – but it would have been a risk so I understand.”
Wallace is currently second in the European Ryder Cup standings.
Qualifying began at the British Masters and will conclude next August at a TBC DP World Tour event.
Wallace, 34, has added some big wins to his resume since the 2018 omission.
His first PGA Tour victory arrived last March and he won the European Masters in September to end a six-year wait for a win on his home circuit.
Crucially, though, he has experience at the 2025 Ryder Cup host venue.
Next September the biennial contest will be staged at Bethpage Black’s notoriously difficult black course.
In 2019, Wallace was one of only six players who finished under par as Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship for the second year in a row.
Wallace added: “I missed the cut at the French Open that year so those were the excuses as to why I didn’t make the Ryder Cup last time.
“But 1729521133 I came third at the PGA at Bethpage behind Brooks and DJ in 2019. That’s not going to be an excuse this time. That can’t be an excuse this time.
“I will be a Ryder Cup rookie but I’ve played on the PGA Tour now for five years in a row against the best players in the world. I’ve beaten a lot of them.
“I’m not scared. I’m up for the fight, I feel like I’ve got the mentality to deal with anything that happens over there and I just want to make it.”
The 2025 Ryder Cup will be played over 26-28 September.
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