Europe will look to claim a historic Ryder Cup win on American soil later this year, with 20 players hoping to feature in Luke Donald’s side battling it out this week in a special three-day team competition.
The ‘Team Cup’ sees DP World Tour golfers from Great Britain and Ireland take on players from Continental Europe in a unique contest, held at Abu Dhabi Golf Resort and live on Sky Sports Golf on Friday.
Who is playing in it? How does the format work? Will the same players be involved in the Ryder Cup? Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament…
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The best of the action from day three of the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy.
What is the Team Cup?
The Team Cup is a team tournament on the DP World Tour, where 10 players from Great Britain and Ireland take on 10 from Continental Europe in a three-day match play event.
Justin Rose and Francesco Molinari will serve as playing captains of the two teams, with the event added to the DP World Tour schedule to give players more experience in Ryder Cup-style competitions.
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Sky Sports reporter Jamie Weir heads to New York to find out what awaits Team Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Donald selected the two line-ups, in consultation with the two captains, ahead of him taking charge of Team Europe against the United States in the Ryder Cup this September at Bethpage Black.
How did players qualify?
The leading four available players from the 2024 Race to Dubai rankings secured their spots in each team, with five captain’s picks on both sides announced by Donald after the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
The final member of each side was then named after the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the third event of the 2025 Race to Dubai, with both teams containing a mix of former Ryder Cup players and some of the DP World Tour’s rising stars.
Who plays for Great Britain and Ireland?
Tyrrell Hatton is the only LIV Golf player involved as he looks to make a fourth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance later this year, with Tommy Fleetwood, Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship winner Paul Waring and Matt Wallace all qualifying automatically.
Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin – who earned dual membership on the PGA Tour – two-time DP World Tour winner Jordan Smith, Laurie Canter and Aaron Rai are part of Rose’s line-up, with Matthew Jordan completing the GB and Ireland team.
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Justin Rose shares his ambitions of automatically qualifying for Europe in the 2025 Ryder Cup and gives his thoughts on whether players from LIV should have the opportunity to also make the team.
What about for Continental Europe?
Thorbjorn Olesen, who represented Europe at the 2018 Ryder Cup, was one of the four automatic qualifiers for Molinari’s side, with Rasmus Højgaard, Niklas Nørgaard and Italian Matteo Manassero also securing spots via their Race to Dubai ranking.
Matthieu Pavon – the first Frenchman to win on the PGA Tour in more than 100 years – Antoine Rozner, Ryder Cup player Nicolai Hojgaard and Challenge Tour No 1 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen feature, with Molinari a playing captain and Romain Langasque the final selection.
What is the format?
Like the Ryder Cup, the Team Cup is a three-day match play team event comprising fourballs, foursomes and singles, although the big difference is that every player plays in every session.
The two 10-man teams will go head-to-head across one session of fourballs on Friday and two sessions of foursomes on Saturday, with five matches in each session and all worth a maximum of one point.
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Ryder Cup captains Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley have their say on LIV Golf and whether you can play and captain a Ryder Cup team.
Foursomes sees two golfers from one team compete against a pair from the other, with team members alternating between shots and each team using one ball. Fourballs sees each player use his own ball, with the lowest score from each pair counting for the score for their side.
Every player then returns for the Sunday singles, with a total of 25 points on offer across the three days.
Who has impressed in this event before?
The Team Cup – formerly known as the Hero Cup – was first played in January 2023, with Molinari leading Continental Europe to a 14½ -10½ victory over a GB and Ireland team captained by Tommy Fleetwood.
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Take a look back at the best of the action from the final day of the 2023 Hero Cup, where Continental Europe claimed an impressive victory.
The competition shares similarities with the Seve Trophy, named after Seve Ballesteros and held eight times between 2000 and 2013, which gave captaincy experience to future Ryder Cup skippers Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sir Nick Faldo, Paul McGinley and Thomas Bjorn.
What does this mean for the Ryder Cup?
Six players who featured in the 2023 version of this event went on to represent Team Europe in the Ryder Cup later that year, with Fleetwood – the playing captain for Great Britain and Ireland – claiming the winning point in the 16.5-11.5 success over Team USA in Rome.
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Tommy Fleetwood’s brilliance saw him beat Rickie Fowler 3&1 as he earnt the winning point to ensure Europe regained the Ryder Cup in Rome.
Shane Lowry and Hatton were both part of Fleetwood’s team, along with Robert MacIntyre ahead of his maiden Ryder Cup appearance, while Nicolai Hojgaard and Sepp Straka were both in the Continental Europe line-up.
It is likely that multiple players involved in the Team Cup will be representing Team Europe this September in New York, where Donald’s side are looking to claim a first away victory since the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012.
How can I watch the Team Cup?
Sky Sports will show full live coverage from all three days of the event, the first in 2025 on the DP World Tour, with the live action getting under way on Friday from 7am on Sky Sports Golf.
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Saturday’s double session starts at 2.30am, immediately after the conclusion of the second round of the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii, with the second foursomes session expected to be live from 7am.
The Sunday singles begin at the earlier time of 6.30am, while you can download the Sky Sports App to follow a dedicated blog that offers live text commentary, highlights, scores and analysis from all three days.
Viewers can follow the coverage on the move via SkyGo, while non-Sky subscribers can get Sky Sports to keep up with coverage or stream the biggest moments on NOW. The DP World Tour is exclusively live throughout the 2025 season on Sky Sports Golf.