Both American and European 2023 Ryder Cup Captains enter Zurich Classic teamed with their vice-captains
NEW ORLEANS, LA (April 4, 2023)—Both current American and European Ryder Cup captains will play in the Zurich Classic this year, each paired with one of their vice-captains, announced Steve Worthy, CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producer of the tournament.
American captain Zach Johnson will team with vice-captain Steve Stricker, and European captain Luke Donald will pair with Edoardo Molinari.
“This is a first for us, to have both Ryder Cup captains and their respective vice-captains in our field this year, said Worthy. “We are excited to connect the opportunity of our team format with the two captains as they prepare for the Ryder Cup in Rome later this year ,” Worthy added.
Johnson has won 12 times on the PGA Tour, including two majors–the 2007 Masters and the 2015 Open Championship. He is 12th all-time on the PGA Tour career money list.
He has played on no fewer than nine American teams, representing the U.S. on five Ryder Cup teams (2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016) and on four Presidents Cup teams (2007, 2009, 2013, and 2015).
He played college golf at Drake University. In 2016, he funded the Zach Johnson Golf Room, featuring state-of-the-art technology for the university men’s and women’s golf teams.
He received the 2020 Payne Stewart Award in honor of his character, sportsmanship and charitable giving.
Johnson partnered with Jonathan Byrd to finish T-15 in the 2018 Zurich Classic. His last win on the PGA Tour was his second major, The Open Championship in 2015.
Stricker has also won 12 times on the PGA Tour, including the World Match Play Championship, Memorial Tournament and Tournament of Champions. He appeared on five Presidents Cup teams (1996, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013) and played on the 2008, 2010 and 2012 Ryder Cup teams.
He has captained both American teams that won the Presidents Cup in 2017 and the Ryder Cup in his home state of Wisconsin in 2020.
His most successful season on the PGA Tour came in 2009, with three victories and a runner-up finish on the money list. He spent more than 250 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, reaching a career-high world ranking of No. 2 in September 2009 at age 42.
He is 15th on the PGA Tour career money list and, like his captain this year, won the Payne Stewart Award in 2012.
This will be his first start on the PGA Tour since 2021. He moved to the Champions Tour in 2017 and quickly hit gold. He has won 12 Champions events in 52 starts. In addition, he has finished in the top 10 an unprecedented 44 times. In his first season on the Champions Tour, he posted one second and three thirds in six starts.
So far this season on the Champions Tour, his worst finish in five tournaments has been a tie for eighth to go with a win, two ties for second and a tie for fifth. He currently ranks second in Schwab Cup points.
Stricker partnered with Jerry Kelly in 2017 and 2018 with a best finish of a tie for 14th, and he tied for fourth as an individual in New Orleans in 2000.
Luke Donald, captain of the European team, spent 56 weeks ranked number one in the world, seventh all-time.
He was born in England and came to the U.S. to play collegiately for Northwestern University in Chicago, where he earned his degree in art theory and practice. He won the 1999 NCAA Division I Championship and made two GB&I Walker Cup teams in 1998 and 1999.
He earned his Tour card in 2002 and went on to win five times on the PGA Tour to go with eight victories on the European Tour. He won the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship in 2011 and 2012. He also won the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in consecutive years, 2012-13.
He played for the European Ryder Cup team in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012. His combined record is 10-4-1 in Ryder Cup matches., going undefeated in 2006. He also played on the World Cup team in 2004, 2005 and 2006, winning the 2004 event paired with fellow Englishman Paul Casey.
His best finishes at the Zurich Classic were a third in 2012 and a tie for eighth in 2011. He is one of only two players ranked number one in the world never to have won a major, but he came close on a number of occasions. In 2011, he tied for fourth in the Masters and tied for eighth in the PGA Championship. That was a banner year in his career, as he also won the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play, tied for second in the WGC St. Jude Invitational and tied for eighth in the WGC Workday Championship.
Donald’s vice-captain, Edoardo Molinari, will make his Zurich Classic debut this year.
He has won three times on the European Tour and was the 2005 U.S. Amateur champion at historic Merion Golf Club, the first Italian and first Continental European to win. He won the U.S. Amateur with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 33rd hole to claim a 4 and 3 win over American Dillon Dougherty.
He was a captain’s pick for the European Ryder Cup team in 2010, when he played with his brother Francesco, the first brothers to play on the European team since 1963. The Molinari brothers also teamed to win the Italian Amateur Foursomes in 2001 and the World Cup in 2009.
Still active on the DP World (European) Tour, his best finish this season has been a tie for 17th at the Thailand Classic. His best on the PGA Tour was a tied for second in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2010.
The 2023 Zurich Classic field includes three of the top 10 players in the world to lead another strong field:
- Defending champions Patrick Cantlay, ranked fourth in the world, and Xander Schauffele, ranked seventh have entered.
- They join last year’s runner-up team of Billy Horschel, ranked 24th with Sam Burns, who vaulted to 10th in the world after winning the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play Championship and is now ranked 11th.
- Collin Morikawa, ranked 12th in the world has entered to play with Max Homa, ranked fourth.
- 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, ranked 15th in the world, will team with his brother Alex.