Who Did (And Who Didn't) Attend Europe's Ryder Cup Scouting Trip To Adare Manor?

Team Europe took a recent scouting trip to Adare Manor as anticipation for next year’s Ryder Cup slowly starts to build.

Now that the Majors and the regular PGA Tour season are over for 2026, it won’t be long before the next edition of the biennial dust-up is upon us.

There is still the matter of the DP World Tour, which has its flagship event this week at Wentworth, while the season-long points race will reach what is hopefully a thrilling conclusion in November.

But Ryder Cup preparation appears to be well underway already for Team Europe captain Luke Donald.

As has become something of a tradition, a mixture of European stalwarts and up-and-coming hopefuls took a quick trip to Adare Manor on Monday following the conclusion of the Irish Open to get an early feel for the 2027 venue and how the team could shape up in 12 months’ time.

So, who was there? Who played with who? And who wasn’t there?

European players spotted at Adare Manor

These are the 16 Europeans who enjoyed a stroll on the lush fairways at Adare Manor.

• Justin Rose, Ryder Cup appearances: 7
• Tommy Fleetwood, Ryder Cup appearances: 4
• Jon Rahm, Ryder Cup appearances: 4
• Matt Fitzpatrick, Ryder Cup appearances: 4
• Tyrrell Hatton, Ryder Cup appearances: 4
• Shane Lowry, Ryder Cup appearances: 3
• Viktor Hovland, Ryder Cup appearances: 3
• Robert MacIntyre, Ryder Cup appearances: 2
• Sepp Straka, Ryder Cup appearances: 2
• Ludvig Aberg, Ryder Cup appearances: 2
• Alex Noren, Ryder Cup appearances: 1
• Nicolai Hojgaard, Ryder Cup appearances: 1
• Eugenio Chacarra, Ryder Cup appearances: 0
• Alex Fitzpatrick, Ryder Cup appearances: 0
• Kristoffer Reitan, Ryder Cup appearances: 0
• Angel Ayora, Ryder Cup appearances: 0

Who wasn’t at Adare Manor?

Only two players who were on the 2025 European team were not at Adare Manor. Most notable of the absentees was Rory McIlroy, who played in the Irish Open and is at Wentworth for this week’s BMW PGA Championship.

Rasmus Hojgaard was the only other player not there who featured at Bethpage Black last year.

It’s not yet known why McIlroy didn’t make the trip. Perhaps he opted not to go to give some of the more inexperienced players a chance to get familiar with the team and the course.

As for Hojgaard, he is playing in the first FedExCup Fall event of the PGA Tour season this week, so likely chose instead to get across to America as quickly as possible after competing in Ireland last week.

Also absent was PGA champion Aaron Rai. The Englishman was invited but he had the wedding of a close friend in Portugal to attend.

Elsewhere, the English quartet of Marco Penge, Matt Wallace, Harry Hall and Jordan Smith weren't at Adare Manor, nor was Joe Dean, who tops the European standings at this early stage.

Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson and Spain's David Puig also missed out.

Who were the rookies at Adare?

One thing Europe does very well is have an eye on the future. So, while there is a strong core group right now in the likes of McIlroy, Rahm, Fleetwood, Fitzpatrick, Hatton, Lowry and Hovland, Donald already appears to have his sights set on who the next European stars could be.

Whether they make the team or not, Eugenio Chacarra, Alex Fitzpatrick, Kristoffer Reitan and Angel Ayora were the four rookies who had impressed enough to make the trip to Adare.

What were the groups?

For what it's worth, as far as we can make out, it looks like these were the groups for the day.

• Matt Fitzpatrick, Alex Fitzpatrick, Robert MacIntyre, Sepp Straka
• Alex Noren, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Kristoffer Reitan
• Shane Lowry, Angel Ayora, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose
• Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Nicolai Hojgaard, Eugenio Chacarra

Rahm hails 'immaculate' Adare

Ahead of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, players are likely to be asked about the scouting mission to Adare.

Rahm was the first to give his thoughts, describing the course as “immaculate”, while he also expressed how beneficial a trip it was for those who have never been involved in the Ryder Cup as players.

“It's one of the best hotel golf course experiences there is in the world,” Rahm began. “It was a lot of fun.

“Obviously some Ryder Cup members, some possible prospects for the Ryder Cup. It was very enjoyable.

“I think those days are great for all of us to see each other and just in a way remember why we do what we do. But for people that have never been involved in anything Ryder Cup related, I think it's great to get a little bit of an example of what things may look like and what things may be like.

“So for those players that have never been there before, I think it's just getting those first nerves out of the way of what things may -- how they may feel I think is very, very important.

“As far as for me, for all we knew, they re-grassed the place. They went from European rye to American rye, if I'm correct. With the good weather they've had in Europe, in Ireland, it was in as good a shape as I've ever seen it.

“They could have had it as fast as they wanted to. It wasn't overly fast because obviously I think they want the public to still enjoy the week. It was in perfect condition. It was immaculate.”