2023 Ryder Cup teams: Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Ludvig Aberg headline Europe captain’s picks for Rome

The European Ryder Cup team roster has been completed. A week after U.S. captain Zach Johnson stirred up a bit of controversy with his captain’s picks, it was European captain Luke Donald’s turn on Monday. Donald announced that Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Ludvig Aberg, Sepp Straka and Nicolai Hojgaard would be joining a team which already includes the six automatic qualifiers from this past Sunday.

Below is the full European team roster for the 2023 Ryder Cup matches in Rome from Sept. 29 – Oct. 1. 

Automatic qualifiers

• Rory McIlroy
• Jon Rahm
• Viktor Hovland
• Matt Fitzpatrick
• Tyrrell Hatton
• Robert MacIntyre

Captain’s picks

• Tommy Fleetwood
• Justin Rose
• Shane Lowry
• Ludvig Aberg
• Sepp Straka
• Nicolai Hojgaard

Similar to the United States, the Europeans had options to fill out the final two positions despite the large turnover from their 2021 team that lost by a record 19-9 margin at Whistling Straits. Aberg’s victory at the European Masters all but secured the Swede’s place on the team and left just one roster spot remaining.

Donald chose to go with the young Dane, Hojgaard, in lieu of this year’s Italian Open winner, Adrian Meronk. In three competitive strolls around Marco Simone Golf Club, Meronk sandwiched a missed cut in 2022 with a win in 2023 and a runner-up finish in 2021. 

His history at this year’s venue and three wins in the last 14 months proved to not be enough for Donald to overlook Hojgaard who also boasts a win and top five at Marco Simone over the last three years. In 11 starts on the PGA Tour this season, Hojgaard captured a runner up and four additional top-25 finishes with quality outings at the Scottish Open and The Open.

“He is a young superstar,” Donald said of Hojgaard. “I think the world is his oyster when it comes to golf. We have just seen the beginning of some of the stuff that he has accomplished at such a young age. A part of having six picks was I wanted some really in-form players and what he did the last two weeks was very, very special.”

At just 22 years of age, Hojgaard will join fellow rookies Aberg (23), MacIntyre (27) and Straka (30) in making their debuts at the 44th Ryder Cup. Hovland, Fitzpatrick and Lowry will be playing in their first Ryder Cups on European soil where they have raised the cup in six straight attempts.

Ryder Cups held in Europe since 1997

This team includes seven players from the 2021 squad and will be led by the experience of McIlroy (12-12-4) and Rose (13-8-2). The last time the Ryder Cup was held in Europe, Fleetwood was a rookie who took the competition by storm garnering a 4-1-0 record in a blemish-free partnership with Francesco Molinari. 

Despite their history on home soil, Europe will need someone to take a similar leap if they are to upend the Americans. Whether that comes from their new FedEx Cup champion, the 2022 U.S. Open champion or the big Austrian from the University of Georgia remains to be seen. But it’s clear Europe has plenty of avenues through which they will be able to march to victory.