European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald 'extremely impressed' with one hopeful

Luke Donald appears to have indicated Scotland's Robert MacIntyre will be part of his European Ryder Cup team.

The Scot, who is attempting to defend his title at the Scottish Open this week, is currently fourth in the European Ryder Cup standings. 

He made his debut in the biennial contest in 2023 and has since decided to play a schedule predominantly on the PGA Tour. 

MacIntyre, 28, claimed his first win on the North American circuit last June with his father Dougie on the bag before prevailing over Adam Scott at The Renaissance Club. 

Donald's team is beginning to take shape and the top six in the standings is filled with names you would expect to see. 

Masters champion Rory McIlroy has already qualified for the team and will make his eighth appearance in the blue and gold at Bethpage Black.

England's Tommy Fleetwood, who narrowly missed out on his first PGA Tour title at the Travelers Championship last month, is second in the points race. 

LIV recruit Tyrrell Hatton, former Open champion Shane Lowry and multiple Tour winner Sepp Straka fill out the top six alongside MacIntyre. 

MacIntyre boosted his credentials with a runner-up finish to JJ Spaun at last month's US Open at Oakmont. 

Donald told BBC Scotland he has been impressed by MacIntyre's game. 

"When you make that transition from playing mostly in Europe to playing over there, it is difficult," the former World No.1 said.

"The fields are deeper. It's harder. But he was still consistent and I was watching his stats quite a lot.

"Even from when he qualified in Rome to where he was before the second place in the US Open, his stats were quite a bit better.

"He won twice last year, in Canada and here [Scottish Open at Renaissance Club]. 

"I saw the improvement in statistics and it was only a matter of time before he had a really, really good week and he almost pulled it off."

"The guys wanted me back"

Donald oversaw Europe's 16½-11½ victory in Rome two years ago and was expected to hand over the reins. 

Justin Rose was touted as his replacement, with the former US Open champion expected to get the nod over the ageing European Ryder Cup stars that bolted to LIV. 

The aforementioned McIlroy claimed it was hard to envision leadership roles for Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer as they are 'not around anymore'. 

Donald did not take the decision to continue as skipper lightly. 

But the prospect of not attempting to become the first European team to win on hostile territory since the Miracle of Medinah in 2012 was too big to ignore. 

"The guys wanted me to come back and to have another chance," he said. 

"Not many people have ever had that chance and certainly I understand that it's a great honour and a great privilege, but also a very tough challenge being in New York.

"It's hard to win away Ryder Cups but having the continuity of a repeat captain, a lot of the guys know me, know how I work.

"They already trust in my abilities to lead them and I'm happy, in general, with how things are shaping up. You're always continually trying to learn.

"It needs a little bit of a different approach, especially with how to deal with the crowd.

"That's really my role - getting them into a good frame of mind and giving them the reasons why I think they can win."

How the teams look: