Luke Donald admits Harry Hall's comments "got misconstrued" ahead of Ryder Cup

Luke Donald admits Harry Hall's recent comments about not having had any recent conversations ahead of the Ryder Cup "got misconstrued".

Hall, 28, admitted during an interview at last week's BMW Championship that he'd had "no conversations recently" with members of the European Ryder Cup team. 

The Englishman's comments shocked plenty of golf fans on social media, especially given his recent solid form on the PGA Tour.

Hall has strung together an impressive 12 consecutive top-35 finishes on the circuit ahead of qualifying for this week's 30-man FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship at East Lake. 

But despite what Hall told reporters, Donald has cleared up the confusion by explaining he has been in touch with Hall regularly, and even as recently as last week.

"Yeah, I think Harry, what he said recently -- certainly I've had many, many conversations with Harry, starting from the end of last year, and invited him to play the Team Cup," Donald told GolfMagic and other reporters in the media centre ahead of this week's British Masters at The Belfry.

"He wanted to concentrate on the US and establish himself over there, which was fair enough. 

"I've had a couple dinners with Harry. I've texted him many times as recently as after The Scottish Open. I played with him specifically at the Scottish and he was part of the barbeque for the players at The Scottish Open, and I texted with him and called him as recently as last week.

"He knows exactly where he stands. He knows he's playing well. Absolutely I've been in contact with him. I think his answer got misconstrued."

Hall has recorded the most rounds in the 60s all season on the PGA Tour, and in terms of strokes-gained statistics, he is the fifth best European performer on the PGA Tour over the past three months. 

He also just happens to be ranked second for strokes-gained putting on the PGA Tour, a statistic that becomes even more relevant ahead of a Ryder Cup match. 

Hall, who won his sole PGA Tour title to date at the 2024 ISCO Championship, is priced up at 6/1 with William Hill to receive one of Donald's six captain's picks on the team. 

It is anticipated that if Rasmus Hojgaard qualifies as expected for the sixth and final automatic spot on the team this week that Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Ludvig Aberg, Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick will then occupy Donald's six captain's picks on Monday 1 September.

Hall is therefore likely going to miss out unless he happens to go and win the Tour Championship this week, which would very much stir the pot. 

Marco Penge could also throw his hat into the ring for a pick should he go and win once again at the British Masters this week. 

Penge is also competing in next week's Omega European Masters in Switzerland. 

Sergio Garcia is another player expected to miss out on the European Ryder Cup team, especially after Donald's comments earlier today. 

Garcia had been looking to earn a joint-record 11th appearance on the European Ryder Cup team.

The Spaniard is competing in the LIV Golf Team Championship in Michigan this week. 

Garcia has not entered the European Masters.