Luke Donald believes Tommy Fleetwood has all the capabilities to become a future European Ryder Cup Captain.
The World Number 14 is set to make his third appearance at the 44th Ryder Cup here in Rome, Italy despite having to be named as one of Donald's Wild Card picks after he narrowly missed out on automatic qualification.
Fleetwood was pipped to final qualifying berth on the World Points List by fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick, but was highly unlikely to miss out due to his strong record in the biennial event and arrives at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in fine form with six top ten finishes in his last eight worldwide starts.
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The 32-year-old already has experience as a captain when he led Great Britain & Ireland against Contential Europe in the inaugural Hero Cup in January, and Donald was impressed with his display despite defeat to his good friend Francesco Molinari, who serves as a Team Europe Vice Captain this week.
"Yeah, absolutely he could be a future captain. I was impressed with the way he handled the situation at The Hero Cup," the 2023 Team Europe Captain said.
"Tommy has a great way about him. He's very relaxed. He has a smile on his face. He loves being in a team room. He loves the atmosphere.
"I think his game elevates having that support group around him. He's very much a team player and one of the best ball-strikers in the world as well.
"I think I expect him to have a great week. He obviously played extremely well. You could see when he was paired with Francesco, somebody he was very comfortable with, and he was very successful on the golf course.
"Again, he's a team player all in all, and he lives for those moments in those team spaces."
Team Europe has four Ryder Cup rookies in the 12-man squad where a partisan crowd in Rome will be fully behind the players, but with that comes immense pressure, particularly when they hit their first tee shot in the competition.
It is hard to prepare, but I think we talk about it enough that the guys actually spend more time preparing for it. So I think they will be ready — European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald
Donald, a member of four victorious Ryder Cup winning teams, acknowledged the enormity of the situation as he recalled his debut experience in 2004.
"Walking to the tee, I felt pretty calm, confident. Five minutes before, it felt pretty normal, like a big event, like a major, but nothing out of the ordinary," Donald said.
"And then once your name is called, you start to forget things. Your mind goes a little blank. But it's important to try and have enough clarity about what you want to do on that first tee.
"I think we all know that it's a big moment. Certainly was for me. I didn't hit a very good tee shot my first go around in 2004, and it was a wide right.
"It is hard to prepare, but I think we talk about it enough that the guys actually spend more time preparing for it. So I think they will be ready.
"They will be ready to get off to a good start. We know that that is important in Ryder Cups, and certainly that will be the messaging to the rookies and the whole team.
"It's important to try and have enough clarity about what you want to do on that first tee. These are all professionals. They have all been in big moments and I'm sure they will deal with the moment very well.
"But yeah, again, it's a lot. It's a lot of pressure. But again, I keep telling my guys, you've got to embrace it, embrace these moments, embrace these times, because these are the best moments; you get to live with your teammates, and enjoy them as much as possible. And then look up into the crowd. They want to see you hit a good shot."
