2025 European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald poses with the trophy before a practice round for the Ryder Cup golf tournament on Tuesday at Bethpage State Park's Black Course.

Long before Luke Donald was Europe’s captain at the Ryder Cup, he was an amateur golfer at Northwestern University in the late 1990s and early 2000s. That time in the Chicago area overlapped with the tail end of Michael Jordan’s heyday winning six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan liked to golf, the two became friends and remain so, now living nearby each other in Florida. Donald has not let that connection go to waste.

“Michael is someone I’ve been very fortunate to get access to and pick his brain occasionally about what made him tick, what motivated him, how he was able to get the best out of himself,” Do

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