Is Luke Donald about to shake things up at the 2025 Ryder Cup?

Is European captain Luke Donald playing mind games on the eve of the 2025 Ryder Cup, or is he about to flip the script? 

The reason I pose the question is that the select Ryder Cup groupings for the first two rounds of the BMW PGA at Wentworth this week are very different to those that were sent out by Donald and the DP World Tour in 2023. 

There is no question Donald has whispered in the ears of tournament officials to hand-pick the Ryder Cup players he specifically wants to see playing alongside each other in Surrey.

Or at least that was the message last time...

Donald has urged all of his players to take part in this week's BMW PGA on the DP World Tour. 

US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has done the same at the Procore on the PGA Tour.

Only two players are missing for Bradley with DeChambeau remaining suspended as a result of his ties to LIV Golf and Schauffele pulling out due to his wife having given birth.

Donald even arranged a Ryder Cup dinner for his troops at Wentworth on Tuesday night in a bid to further build their team bond. 

Unless things fail spectacularly later this month, Donald, 47, will most certainly go down as one of Europe's greatest ever captains win, lose or draw at the Ryder Cup in New York on Sunday 28 September. 

The Englishman has already proven himself with a commanding five-point victory in Rome two years ago, and he's now looking to re-write the record books by becoming the first skipper since compatriot Tony Jacklin in 1987 to win two consecutive Ryder Cup matches. 

Donald is also looking to lead the Europeans to a first away win since Europe last achieved the feat at Medinah in 2012. 

Is Donald about to flip the script?

Last month I sat down and racked my brains to predict the most likely pairings Donald will opt for in the foursomes and fourballs.

At the time it felt like a simple task in all honesty given things worked so perfectly for the European team last time out.

Furthermore, 11 of the same players from Donald's victorious 12-man team in 2023 remain in this month's squad. 

The only difference, hilariously, is a switch in Hojgaard twin with Rasmus replacing Nicolai. 

You could also argue, and it's something Rory McIlroy raised during his pre-tournament press conference this afternoon, that the majority of players on Donald's team are all vastly improved players two years on now.

But after seeing the first and second round tee times for the BMW PGA Championship on Thursday and Friday, I'm starting to think Donald might just completely flip the script. 

Or is it all just clever mind games from Donald to keep his rival captain Bradley on his toes? 

Either way, I've done some digging from the 2023 BMW PGA so you can see exactly what Donald was thinking last time around.

In the opening two rounds at Wentworth two years ago, Donald and DP World Tour opted for the following groups: 

• McIlroy, Aberg, Hovland
• Fleetwood, Lowry, Straka
• Rahm, Hatton, N.Hojgaard
• Rose, Fitzpatrick, MacIntyre 

As it turned out two weeks later at the 2025 Ryder Cup, Aberg and Hovland played together three times (twice in the foursomes and once in the fourballs), Lowry and Straka played together twice (both foursomes), Rahm played with Hatton twice (both foursomes) and once with Hojgaard (fourballs), and Rose played with MacIntyre twice (both fourballs). 

So as it turned out, a lot of those groups at the BMW PGA played out accordingly, and also very successfully too.

The only anomaly at Wentworth was McIlroy, Fleetwood and Fitzpatrick being apart since they ended up playing together in Rome, with McIlroy joining Fleetwood in the foursomes and Fitzpatrick in the fourballs. 

Such is McIlroy's close bond with Fleetwood, former World No.1 Donald likely thought the European duo were the two players who needed less bonding time than others. 

McIlroy and Fleetwood shared a warm embrace on the practice range on Monday to hammer home that particular point. 

Fast forward two years to the 2025 BMW PGA Championship, and I must admit I was thinking Donald would send out similar groups. 

Or at least a couple of them. 

But there's nothing of the sort. 

Luke has completely shuffled the pack this time around and left a lot of questions to be answered at his Wednesday press conference. 

Donald and his vice-captains are extremely thorough with their stats though, so they've obviously discovered something. 

A lot has changed in two years too, with some of Donald's players at the top of their games and others struggling for a bit of form. 

You could also argue the pairings need to be amended because Marco Simone is a completely different test to Bethpage. 

It's also an away game this time, so perhaps Donald is already thinking about mindset and an ability to deal with rowdy American fans.

Who knows exactly, but at this stage we can start to read between the lines based on today's draw for round one and round two of the 2025 BMW PGA on the famed Wentworth West Course in Virginia Water, England. 

Donald and the DP World Tour have mixed things up this time around with four selected Ryder Cup pairings and a three-ball, with Straka the only absentee as he continues to deal with "personal issues". 

We've got the following groups at the BMW: 

• Rose, Fleetwood (Horschel)
• Aberg, Fitzpatrick (Matsuyama)
• Hovland, R.Hojgaard (Penge)
• MacIntyre, Hatton (Fox)
• McIlroy, Lowry, Rahm

Based on the above evidence, we could be looking at some very different partnerships at the 2025 Ryder Cup consisting of Rose with Fleetwood, Aberg with Fitzpatrick, Hovland with Hojgaard, MacIntyre with Hatton, and a mix of McIlroy with Lowry and Rahm. 

Where Straka fits in to all of that remains unknown as a result of his absence. 

Rose with Fleetwood would be brilliant, no question, especially after their recent exploits on the PGA Tour with Rose winning the FedEx St Jude Championship and Fleetwood going on to win the Tour Championship to land his first PGA Tour title in his 164th start on the circuit and with it capture the FedEx Cup.

Fleetwood and Rose also recently went away on holiday together, so perhaps Donald has been thinking about this pairing for a while.

Aberg and Fitzpatrick is a pretty steady pairing you would think, and the Scandinavian partnership of Norwegian Hovland with Danish rookie Hojgaard would be a prudent play. 

You've then got what could prove an incredibly fiery pairing of MacIntyre and Hatton, which would be absolute fireworks against a vocal New York crowd wouldn't it?!

Then there's also potential for McIlroy playing alongside his good pal Lowry, which could prove another smart move.

It would be something of a surprise if Donald opted to send out his best two best players in McIlroy and Rahm together, but who knows?! 

You'd like to think McIlroy and Rahm would certainly deliver a blue point on the board. 

Either way, the groupings have generated plenty of noise on golf social media as to whether Donald is going to stick or twist with what worked so well for him in Rome. 

Is Luke playing mind games or is he genuinely about to flip the script? 

I guess we'll find out in two weeks...