Luke Donald reportedly ‘looked annoyed’ following a question regarding his wife, Diane Antonopoulos, after the Ryder Cup opening ceremony. Team Europe’s captain was happily chatting away to the media, before reportedly appearing to take umbrage with a joke that was made to him.
A reporter told Donald that the phrase ‘sleeping with the enemy’ came to mind after discovering that his wife was American. Donald met his wife at Northwestern University in Illinois, America, but despite being a Chicago native she was born in Greece to Greek parents.
Donald kindly explained that to the reporter but The Athletic claimed that the initial comment was met with an ‘annoyed’ look.
Donald was asked: “Sorry to hit you with this on the eve of the tournament, but following exhaustive investigations, it’s come to our attention you’ve got an American wife. And the phrase sleeping with the enemy comes to mind. So I just wonder how tricky is it going to be this week for you? I wonder if you talk in your sleep?”
“Not tricky at all,” he explained. My wife’s parents were born in Greece. She has a lot of strong European roots, and my number one fan. There’s quite a few guys on our team that have U.S. wives. It’s really not a problem. They are 100 percent behind us.” When asked whether Diane was supporting Team Europe, Donald took a short pause before replying: “Of course.”
Away from the awkward questions aimed towards Donald and his wife, the Englishman was also asked for his reasoning behind rookie Ludvig Aberg being thrown straight into the opening foursomes.
Aberg and Viktor Hovland will take on Brian Harman and Max Homa, and Donald explained: “I’m very impressed with both of these players. They’re very steady players.
“Obviously Ludvig’s driving, the few tournaments he played on the PGA Tour, he was the number one driver in all of golf, ahead of Rory McIlroy, ahead of Scottie Scheffler in the rankings. We know driving is important this week and in foursomes, if you’re in the short stuff, it’s going to make life a lot easier.”
