This is one of the best things Luke Donald has done as Ryder Cup captain.

Ahead of last month’s Ryder Cup, the European team looked formidable but something was missing.

That represents a total of 28 Ryder Cup appearances by Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter over the past 26 years.

The European guard is changing, meaning Rory McIlroy, who has only featured six times before, is the most experienced player in the European squad as the team moves towards Marco Simone.

Of course, the Europeans are not lacking in leadership and we all know how the matches went:
A resounding victory for the home team.

The European’s 16.5-11.5 victory had much to do with the performances of future generations of team leaders, like McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm, who combined to win 10, 5 points in Rome. However, the winning team also had an impressive performance from top to bottom as rookies Ludvig Aberg and Robert MacIntyre earned 2 and 2.5 points respectively.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar, Aberg told co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz that team captain Luke Donald has made sure his team doesn’t lack leadership.

“That’s why Luke did such a good job,” Aberg said. “I mean, he did a lot of things very well. But I feel like there’s a big dynamic between the experience, between the younger guys, between… you know, obviously I’m world class as well, but you know, a guy like Rory , a guy like Justin [Rose] with all the experience they have. “For me, I’m quite young and not really experienced in these situations. And I try to listen to them as much as I can and try to pick their brain as much as I can and figure out what – because everyone has the same emotions, whether you play six or one.

“Everyone will be nervous on the first tee. You know, people will be excited to play. But if they could give me some advice on how to, you know, maybe solve this problem or whatever, that could go a long way.

Obviously, it was a long shot as Aberg teamed up with Hovland to pull off a historic 9 and 7 loss to Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka in Saturday morning’s quarterfinal match. It was part of a strong Ryder Cup debut for the 23-year-old, who became the first player to appear in a Ryder Cup before playing in his first major. Meanwhile, Donald was praised for his performance as captain, prompting European players to chant “two more years” at the trophy ceremony.

For more Ryder Cup stories from Aberg, including his selection for Team Europe MVP, watch the full episode below.