Over the years, Luke Donald and Pat Goss, whose partnership began in 1997 when Donald played golf under Goss at Northwestern University, experienced two particularly disheartening phone calls concerning the Ryder Cup. The first was in 2014 when Donald wasn’t selected for Team Europe despite having already secured four victories in previous tournaments. Nearly a decade later, Donald was crushed when Henrik Stenson was chosen over him to lead the team for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, as Donald believed he was a contender for the role.

Leading a Ryder Cup team had long been an ambition for Donald. With a 7-1 record playing for Great Britain and Ireland in the 1999 and 2001 Walker Cups, he began building his international credentials. His first PGA Tour win as a rookie shifted his focus to earning a spot on the 2004 Ryder Cup team. Despite his subsequent successes, becoming a captain remained uncertain, according to Goss, who has been Donald’s coach in various ways over the past 20-plus years. Donald, who describes himself as an introvert, didn’t fit the typical captain prototype.

However, when Stenson left for LIV Golf and lost his captain role, Team Europe turned to Donald. By the weekend’s conclusion in Rome, Goss was in the stands, 75 yards from the first fairway, watching as European golfers chanted “two more years” at Donald during the awards ceremony.

“That was the emotional, consequential moment, to me, of the whole event,” Goss said. “Just to know what he had invested in that, how hard he’s worked, how much he’d grown to become such a great inspirational leader, and then to get that validation back from your players, that’s as good as it gets.”