European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald selected Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Nicolai Hojgaard, and Ludvig Aberg to join his squad for this month's event in Rome.
The six captain's picks join automatic qualifiers Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Robert MacIntyre to complete the team that'll attempt to take the title back from the United States.
The defending champions finalized their roster last week. The United States won the 2021 event in a 19-9 blowout at Whistling Straits, and the team holds an all-time 27-14 advantage dating back to the tournament's inception in 1927.
"They are going to be strong. They are always stronger than us on paper and world rankings, and, obviously, they had a pretty convincing win two years ago," Donald said, according to The Associated Press' Steve Douglas. "We certainly don't underestimate them. They are going to be extremely tough opponents. But we'll be ready for them."
Donald opted for a mix of youth and experience for this year's selections. Fleetwood, Rose, and Lowry have all represented Europe at the event in the past, but Straka, Hojgaard, and Aberg are Ryder Cup rookies.
Fleetwood has played in the past two events. He famously teamed up with Francesco Molinari in 2019 to go undefeated and help Europe win its most recent title. The Englishman had nine top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR this season and finished sixth in the final FedEx Cup standings.
Rose returns to Europe's roster after failing to make the team in 2021. He has a 13-8-2 record all time against the United States across five showings.
Lowry was a captain's pick in 2021. The Irishman struggled in 2023 with a single top-10 finish on TOUR. However, he has plenty of success to his name across the pond, including six career European Tour victories, as well the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
Straka is the first of Donald's rookies, but he was one of the most consistent players on TOUR this season. The 30-year-old Austrian finished 14th in the FedEx Cup and collected one victory, two runners-up, and five top-10 finishes in 2022-23.
Donald tapped into Europe's youth movement by selecting Hojgaard and Aberg. The former, 22, has yet to make much of an impact in America but has two DP World Tour victories to his name already and finished no worse than sixth in his four most recent tournaments.
Aberg is one of golf's hottest prospects at the moment. The towering Swede cemented his Ryder Cup case with a victory at the European Masters over the weekend and was the top collegiate player in the U.S. for two years at Texas Tech.
"I challenged him and said come over to Europe and play a couple of weeks," Donald said of Aberg. "It was like a walk in the park for him, and, obviously, for someone so inexperienced, it's so impressive."
This year's Ryder Cup begins Sept. 29 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Europe has won six consecutive showings on home soil.
