Ryder Cup 2025: Golf pundit aims subtle dig at Team USA during European announcement
After European skipper Luke Donald named his six captain's picks for the Ryder Cup, Sky Sports presenter Nick Dougherty couldn't help noticing the contrasting emotions to the Team USA wildcards!
Sky Sports presenter Nick Dougherty took the opportunity to aim a subtle dig at Team USA after Luke Donald announced his six captain's picks for the Ryder Cup later this month.
US captain Keegan Bradley named his six picks for Bethpage last week, but it was widely noted on social media that none of his wildcards seemed to be overly thrilled to have made the team.
Patrick Cantlay is known for being a dour, stony-faced character on the course, and his expressionless face was singled out for criticism as he joined the press conference via a video link from his home.
Bradley's other picks - Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Sam Burns and Cameron Young - also looked as though they would rather be anywhere else at times as the assembled journalists in the room fired their questions.
The difference in emotions as Donald completed his line-up at the Sky Sports studios could not have been more contrasting, and that was not lost on Dougherty, a three-time winner on the DP World Tour who is now lead presenter for Sky’s comprehensive golf coverage.
As expected, Donald named Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick as his six wildcards, meaning 11 of the 12 players who lifted the Ryder Cup in Rome two years ago will again feature for Europe in New York.
And, as the big screen showed all six captain’s picks with beaming smiles, Dougherty turned to Donald in the studio and said: “Look at this happy, smiling faces Luke! You’ve certainly made their day and probably earned favour as well.”
Rahm provided another light-hearted highlight when being interviewed live in his office at home, with the eagle-eyed Dougherty noticing that the Spaniard had some interesting portraits in the background.
There was a picture of Rahm with Ryder Cup legend Seve Ballesteros, one of Rahm with his wife, Kelly, and also one of Baby Yoda!
“Yeah, I’m a bit of a Star Wars fan,” said Rahm. “And there’s a six-foot Darth Vader that may or may not be in the corner of the room!”
And Dougherty responded appropriately, saying: “May the force be with you when you get to Bethpage, Jon!”
Keith Jackson joined GolfMagic's content team during the summer of 2025.
He has over 25 years' experience in the sports journalism industry, with almost 20 of those spent in digital media at Sky Sports, including seven years as digital editor for golf content.
