No One is Happier with the First Three Months of the PGA TOUR Season than Luke Donald

Let me set the scene. I’m picturing Luke Donald as Dr. Evil. Slowly stroking his cat and plotting to take over the world. Of course, in this scenario Donald isn’t trying anything like that exactly, he’s just focused on taking down the 12 members of the United States Ryder Cup team.

The biennial bash at Bethpage Black is set for Sept. 26-28, and I’m not sure the first three months of the PGA TOUR season could have gone better for the returning European captain.

Coming off a convincing win in Rome, Donald’s squad is off to a ridiculous start to the year.

Rory McIlroy, the team’s leader and loudest voice, has two tallies in the win column already. He dominated at Pebble Beach in February and won with his B-game at TPC Sawgrass earlier this month. But regardless of his form heading in, he was always gonna be a problem for Team USA.

Ludvig Aberg—I prefer to refer to him the "Swede Machine," but that’s just me—has cemented himself as a top-five player in the game. A brutal illness he caught at the Farmers put his season on hold for a few weeks, but he returned to Torrey Pines for the Genesis Invitational and collected his second TOUR win. He’s the type of player that will keep Keegan Bradley up at night.

Viktor Hovland is still fighting to regain his old swing, but he was able to puzzle it all together over the weekend at Copperhead to win the Valspar. Sure, that could have been a flash in the pan, but with six months separating him from the Cup, he has more than enough time to find some of his old feels.

Sepp Straka, a Ryder Cup rookie in 2023, has been one of the best players in the world over the last three months. In 10 starts this season, Straka has nine finishes T-30 or better, including a win at the American Express. Just a ridiculous stretch of good golf.

Outside of the 2025 winners, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry have done everything but. Since missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open to start his season, the Irishman has five top-20 finishes in six starts, including a silver medal at Pebble and two other top-10s. As for Fleetwood, he’s yet to finish worse than T-22 and is fourth in Strokes Gained: Total.

And we haven’t even covered the superstar playing on the other side of the aisle.

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Jon Rahm’s worst finish with LIV Golf this season is a tie for 6th in Hong Kong, and we’ll start to get more looks at him once major season officially arrives in a couple weeks.

For the Americans, it’s been a different story.

While Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, and Collin Morikawa seem to be rounding into form, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has yet to win this season, Xander Schauffele is still making his way back from injury, and Max Homa has seemingly lost his game.

There’s plenty of time for Team USA to turn it around, but as we get into the summer, the Ryder Cup’s presence will start to grow. The pressure will build and we’ll see what these guys are made of.

186 days until Friday morning foursomes.