Former Rugby World Cup-winning head coach Sir Clive Woodward has backed Team Europe to claim a famous Ryder Cup away victory and praised Luke Donald’s 'fantastic' leadership as captain.
Team Europe head to Bethpage Black this month, live from September 26-28 on SportNews, looking to retain the trophy on American soil and claim the first away victory in the Ryder Cup since their 'Miracle at Medinah' success in 2012.
Donald returns as captain after leading Europe to a 16.5-11.5 victory in Rome two years ago, with the Englishman keeping 11 of his 12-man side and four of his five vice-captains from their 2023 success.
Europe have only won four away Ryder Cups in their history but Woodward, who guided England to World Cup glory on away soil in 2023, believes Donald's side are in a strong position to defeat Team USA.
When asked whether Europe will win in New York, Woodward told the SportNews Golf podcast: "Definitely, yes. When I saw the team and when I see how well Fleetwood, McIlroy and Rose are playing - they've all been winning the last few weeks.
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"I think we've got a really strong side and I think we've got good characters as well. I can see them all looking forward to going there and having a bit of a moment with the crowd.
"We've got some tough characters there - do you pair two strong ones up together or do you put your strong characters with the not quite so strong characters? If anything was to happen during a round of golf, which happened last time with the caddie or with the crowd saying, you need the tough guy there.
"I think that the crowd also respect our team. They know we've got some tough characters out there, winners, so if you're facing up to McIlroy or Rahm or these guys then they're not going to back off it. This is going to be an amazing event."
Donald is the first back-to-back Ryder Cup captain since Bernard Gallacher in the 1990s, with Woodward impressed by the former world No 1's work and believing it puts them in a "really good position" to claim a successful title defence.
"He's like us all - he's an obsessive and his detail is absolutely huge," Woodward added. "For him to turn around the Ryder Cup team a couple years ago in Italy was just amazing.
"The biggest thing from a coach's point of view is do the players trust him. You don't get trust or respect by being the boss, you get it by the quality of your actions. What he's done since he's been the Ryder Cup captain has been amazing.
"His wife's got a big part to play in that as well - she's done a brilliant job, which is really important behind the scenes. Between the two captains, we're a bit ahead there and he's ahead of Keegan Bradley. we're in a really good position.
"It was just fascinating when they won two years ago, they were still celebrating and they were shouting two more years, two more years. If you're the coach, if you're Luke, you'll never admit it, but that would be a massive buzz.
"You know the team's right behind you. Because you've got to make big calls, you've got to make calls that are not going to be popular with all the team. That's when you're going to know you've got a good team. Everyone takes it on board - it's a team game."
Donald said ahead of the BMW PGA Championship that there would be potentially different groups playing together compared to two years ago, despite the similar line-up, with Woodward warning against Team Europe fully relying on data to select his pairings.
"Data is really important but it's got to reinforce your gut feeling," Woodward insisted. "I still absolutely believe as the head coach, your brain, you've got to use your common sense or your knowledge.
"If the data backs that up, then big, big tick. But, if you and the data cross and say, 'actually, that doesn't make sense to me', you've still got to go with your own gut feeling. That's really important.
"I'd always go with my decision at the end, but I listened to other people and all the data. At the end of the day, if you win, you tend to be right. And if you lose, you leave yourself pretty well known for this."
Listen to the full Sir Clive Woodward interview on the latest edition of the SportNews Golf podcast, hosted every week by Jamie Weir, where he also discussed his role with the "Stryve Golf" app he has been working with to help golfers with their game.
This week's episode also contains an interview with Nicolas Colsaerts, who featured in the 2012 Ryder Cup and served as a vice-captain in 2023. Subscribe now on , or , while vodcasts can be found on the .
There will be extended live coverage from every day of Ryder Cup week, starting on Monday September 22, where Team Europe look to regain the trophy with a historic away win in the United States.
Round-the-clock coverage of the opening day's play will begin with live build-up from 9am on Friday September 26, ahead of full coverage from midday. Not got Sky? or
