Luke Donald “signs contract” with Ryder Cup after LIV approach

Luke Donald confirmed he has signed a contract with Ryder Cup Europe after revealing he had been approached by LIV Golf.

Four-time veteran Donald was named as Europe’s new captain on Monday after Henrik Stenson’s removal last week. The Swede was skipper for just 127 days before his own move to the Saudi-backed tour prompted his sacking.

Now, however, Donald has pledged his loyalty to Europe’s quest to regain the Ryder Cup – despite being tapped up by the breakaway league in its early stages.

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“I have signed a contract, and I intend to see that through,” he told reporters at his first press conference since taking the top job.

“I’m giving you my word that I will be here for the next 14 months. I’m excited about this opportunity, I really am. The Ryder Cup means so much to me and I’m not going to take this lightly, so I will see you in Rome.”

Donald, 44, also revealed the approach by LIV was not to play on the controversial series, but would have involved becoming part of the commentary team.

“They reached out to me very early on in the process about being an announcer, which I quickly said I wasn’t interested in,” he said.

“To be honest with you, I wouldn’t have thought I would be a captain at age 45.

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“As an individual player, you always have aspirations of playing at the highest level. My golf has not been as good as I would have liked the last few years. But if you asked me after Medinah whether that would be my last Ryder Cup, I would have said you were crazy.

“That’s how fickle this game is. I still have aspirations of competing and doing well and playing at the highest level. So for me to take an announcer’s role would kind of be a slight on that. That’s why it wasn’t appealing to me.”