Jon Rahm cried like a ‘full-on movie break-up’ thanks to a surprise Ryder Cup gift from Europe captain Luke Donald.
Donald skippered Europe for the second time at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome as the team looked to preserve their 30-year unbeaten record on home turf against America.
Given Europe came off a 19-9 battering in the previous edition of the Ryder Cup, Donald knew it would take something special to get his team fired up.
The 46-year-old tasked the families and friends of the players involved with recording a special video message for them.
But there was one in particular that left Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood a weeping mess, as the pair opened up on the moment in a newly-released documentary titled Una Famiglia.
Although each player received individual videos, Donald decided to deliver an edited version that included snippets from everyone’s clip and played it in front of the entire team.
The first snippet shown featured Fleetwood’s young son, Frankie.
In his personalised clip, Fleetwood conceded he ‘probably played it six times’ before he was able to properly watch it due to the tears in his eyes.
“At the end of the video, there was a line that said, ‘The sun is shining on you now,’” Fleetwood said.
“It was intense, that one. Yeah, it was amazing.”
Frankie soon had a number of other European stars welling up as Rahm recounted the touching moment.
“It really hit hard afterwards in the team room,” Rahm said.
Tommy Fleetwood’s son Frankie had golf stars in tears with an emotional message[/caption]
“On this couch is Tommy, myself, Nicolai (Hojgaard) and Ludvig (Aberg).
“The first part of the video is Frankie Fleetwood talking to Tommy. Tommy starts crying and I lose it right after him.
“This is full-on, movie break-up.”
Rahm added Hojgaard and Aberg didn’t appear overly emotional, at least on the outside.
However, seeing Rahm and Fleetwood in tears gave Aberg an insight into what the Ryder Cup means to some of the teams veterans.
“For me coming in, I didn’t really realise it meant that much to some of those guys,” Aberg said.
Rahm opened up on the impact of each player’s personalised video[/caption]
“It was an eye-opener for me because those guys were showing so much emotion.
“Obviously they care so much, it makes me want to play even better and win for them.”
The video was one of multiple personal touches from Donald that inspired Europe to a 16.5-11.5 win over America to wrestle back the Ryder Cup.
Donald organised a special commemorative gift for caddie Billy Foster, who would be on the bag for Matt Fitzpatrick in Italy.
The gift was a smaller version of the iconic trophy and had each of Foster’s 15 Ryder Cups he had caddied in engraved on it.
Europe will look to retain the Ryder Cup next year at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York.
