European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald makes unsurprising announcement
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has confirmed key stats man Edoardo Molinari will be one of the Englishman's vice captains in the 2025 contest.
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has confirmed Edoardo Molinari will be one of his vice-captains at the contest next year.
Edoardo, the elder brother of former Open winner Francesco, was seen as a key man that helped Europe wrestle back the Cup in Italy last September.
Donald's Europeans ran out 16½ - 11½ winners in a truly absorbing encounter at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy.
Affectionately referred to as 'Dodo', the Italian is known as the stats guru who was instrumental in helping Donald form each pairing.
Edoardo spent the better part of a year studying data in the build-up to the 2023 Ryder Cup.
He has his own programme - StatisticGolf - which has been implemented by the likes of 2022 U.S. Open winner Matthew Fitzpatrick.
Such is the programme's popularity, it is now being used by more than 30 professionals across the PGA and DP World Tour.
Speaking to The Times about the programme, Edoardo said: "I worked on it every day for three months, [I spent] a lot of hours reading books and watching tutorials, because I thought it was important that whoever made it understands the game as well, otherwise you can fall into some traps or stupid ideas."
Essentially, the programme allows each player to dive into the minute details of their game.
For example, the programme revealed the aforementioned Fitzpatrick had a tendency to miss his putts low.
Viktor Hovland also appeared to be far too aggressive with his approach shots on difficult courses.
Of his role, he added: "My job is to make sure we don't make any silly mistakes.
"You have to go with gut feeling too and Luke will always make the final decision, but the numbers are a guide.
"Sometimes two personalities can work great but, when you look at the numbers, it's the worst possible route."
Donald confirmed Edoardo will return to his role on 23 January with a post on X.
"My chief strategist, stats guru is back and I'm happy to share this journey with you Dodo," he wrote.
And the Italian replied: "Thank you captain, it will be an exciting 20 months and I can't wait to many more conversations, dinners and practice rounds together!"
It is a common misconception that Donald appointed Edoardo in the first place.
In fact it was Henrik Stenson who first selected the stats guru for the role before the Swede was stripped of the captaincy for joining LIV Golf.
The 2025 Ryder Cup will take place at Bethpage Black in New York over 25-28 September.
At the time of publication, Donald's U.S. counterpart has not been named.
It is thought Stewart Cink or Fred Couples will step into the role after Tiger Woods distanced himself from the job.
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