Luke Donald says job is not done ahead of historic Sunday at Bethpage

History was made in New York on Friday by Captain Luke Donald's Team Europe, but he insists that despite an unexpected record-lead heading into the Sunday singles, the job is not yet done.

The triumphant European side from Marco Simone arrived in New York as the most unchanged Ryder Cup team in history, with only Rasmus Højgaard switching places with his twin brother Nicolai this time around.

Whether it’s been the continuity of the team, the standard of golf, the VAR headsets, the inspiring touches calling back to previous away wins or a combination of all of it, the evidently inspired players have spent their first four sessions at Bethpage Black making history.

From the first European side to ever win the first three matches of a Ryder Cup, to the first to win the first three and then four sessions in an away match, and a record margin of 11.5-4.5 heading into the Sunday singles, the team are closing in on a fifth win away from home.

Tommy Fleetwood is one of several of Europe’s most experienced performing at the highest level, and became the first player in history to win all four of the first foursomes and four-ball sessions on two separate occasions, while both he and Jon Rahm extended their own individual foursomes records to 6-0-0. Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy has risen to the challenge of being somewhat of a talisman, taking the brunt of the crowd’s directives and responding with three wins and a half point to extend his own career record to 21.5 points – overtaking 2012 Captain Jose Maria Olazabal to go joint seventh in the all-time Ryder Cup points list. If he were to win his singles match against Scottie Scheffler on Sunday, he would overtake Nick Flado and find himself joint fifth all-time on 22.5 points with Seve Ballesteros.

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They have all played their part in the creation of this history, but as Donald will be reminding them in the teamroom on Saturday evening, there is still a long way to go and Sunday comes with no guarantees of the 2.5 points needed to retain or 3 points needed to win the Cup. outright.

"I didn't really imagine this," said Donald

Obviously their job is not done yet but to have this stand in New York with most of the cheers coming from our side is incredible. Just the resiliency and the confidence these guys have in themselves, in their partners, is really, truly incredible.

"I mean, I said it at the beginning of week, we came here to try and win, to try and create history. We know it was going to be a very difficult task, looking at past Ryder Cups, away Ryder Cups. Three of the last four haven't been very close.

"You know, I didn't expect to have as big a lead like this. A lot of things have gone well for us. But very happy with how strong our team is, the firepower they have, the intensity. It kind of the anti-fragile mentality.

"Things got tougher out there, and it fired them up even more. They were able to get better through those difficult moments out there. That is what makes me most proud as a captain, just their ability to take the punches and come back even stronger.

"It's a very similar team, which is unusual. Never happened in the history of our Ryder Cup teams in Europe, to have 11 come back. So we have a lot of cohesion.

"I think part of a captain's job is to try and form the team. It's to try and get these guys together and kind of bonding and being a team. I certainly haven't had to work that hard with these guys because of what we did two years ago.

"Even Rasmus was on the buggy for Nicolai and spent time there."

ROME, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 30: Thomas Bjorn, Vice Captain of Team Europe and Rasmus Hojgaard look on from a Club Car buggy during the Saturday morning foursomes matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on September 30, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

The stage is now set for the 12 players hoping to compete for history on Sunday, with Justin Rose leading off for Europe against Cameron Young, who has been a standout Rookie in front of his home fans. One question mark does remain over Viktor Hovland, who was replaced by Tyrrell Hatton in the anchor match of the afternoon four-balls. Donald is hopeful that he will play, but the Ryder Cup would revert to the Envelope Rule if he was unable to, which was put in place for that purpose.

"Viktor, he was feeling quite uncomfortable in the middle of the round this morning. He got some physio. He was given a lot of anti-inflammatories during the round.

"He finished. He was feeling okay. He went in to rest, and then he went back out to the range to try and hit some balls. And when he got to the driver, he hit one, and it was very painful. He hit another one, and it got even more painful. It was at that point that he thought, you know, I'm not going to be able to play to the level that I think I can.

"So it was a last-minute decision to switch him out. Tyrrell literally warmed up for about ten minutes. We knew it was a possibility, but we were hoping that he would play.

"He is on his way now to go get an MRI, another 20, 30 minutes away, and we'll see in the morning what he's like. It's definitely stiffened up a little bit. He would love to play, and he'll do everything he can to play."

FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 27: Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland of Team Europe embrace on the 15th green during the Saturday morning foursomes matches of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Black Course at Bethpage State Park Golf Course on September 27, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

And while that particular situation may be relatively unknown right now, Donald's strategy remains unchanged: win the Session.

"Our goal is always to win every session, you know, no matter where we are, and that will be our goal tomorrow.

"You know, we love to do things that haven't been done before, and we've achieved quite a few things this week already. But the goal for me is still, we're close to the finish line, but we still have a long way to go. These guys are very aware of what the difficult environment is going to be like tomorrow.

"So we're excited for the challenge, but our goal will be to win the session tomorrow."

And what is certain, is that they will face a U.S. Team hoping to make the largest comeback in Ryder Cup history.