SUTTON COLDFIELD, England — Even though the 45th Ryder Cup is still more than 12 months away at Bethpage Black on Long Island, it’s safe to assume that European captain Luke Donald has already given plenty of thought to the process by which his team hopes to defend the trophy it won so convincingly in Italy last year. But that’s not to say that the 46-year-old Englishman, who has won four Ryder Cups as a player, gave too much away when he met with a group of journalists at The Belfry. Two days before qualifying for the Old World team begins at the Betfred British Masters at the host venue of four Ryder Cups, the captain was understandably in “wait and see” mode.

One obvious advantage is already there. With the return of the Team Cup (formerly known as the Hero Cup and before that the Seve Trophy) in Abu Dhabi next January, Donald will have an early opportunity to assess players from both the European continental team and the opposing Great Britain and Ireland team. It promises to be a useful exercise. Two years ago, six members of the eventual 2023 Ryder Cup team competed in the Middle East, two from the European continent, four from Great Britain and Ireland.

“The Hero last year was very helpful for my captaincy at the Ryder Cup,” Donald said. “Just getting a few guys together in team rooms and seeing how they react in that environment, how they react when they’re playing together, a few foursomes. It showed me a lot and had some influence on some of my selections. The more match play we can play, the better. And the more we can get into a team environment, that kind of atmosphere, the better.”

At this point, Donald said, it was not so much about seeing Europe’s best players take part, but rather about introducing others to the experience of team golf.

“It would be great to have some big names involved and I’ll be speaking to some of the guys to see if they can play,” Donald said. “It’s more about getting some of the potential players who have never played Ryder Cups into that kind of team environment.”

When asked about the new qualification system, which now features one points list instead of the previous two (World and European), Donald was predictably happy with the end result, which gives him six automatic qualifiers to which he can add six captain’s picks. While he understood that players who play well enough to finish seventh and eighth on such a list are most likely to be selected anyway, there was one caveat.

“We wanted to put something together where we felt like we were getting the six strongest players,” said the former world number one. “And the six picks worked out really well for me last year. It gave me a good opportunity to bring together some people for the golf course and some people who had already made the team and get enough newcomers to make sure we have a nice, balanced team. It gives me a lot of flexibility. There could be a situation where Nos. 7 to 12 are all newcomers and that could be difficult to take to a Ryder Cup in New York.”

Speaking of which, Donald is well aware of the effect a tough Long Island crowd could have on his players. The atmosphere will likely be louder than ever in an environment that has seen some unpleasant incidents over the years. No one wants to witness another version of 1991 on Kiawah Island, the so-called “War on the Shore,” for example.

“It’s something that’s being thought about a lot,” Donald said. “We all talk about the crowd. A lot of us have been to Bethpage and experienced it. But there are ways to handle it, and we’ve got about 13 months left to figure that out. I won’t go into too much detail. But it’s more about the individuals and how they react to things like that. I’ve certainly talked about it a little bit within the group. It’s a process of working on it from now until New York, not waiting for the team to be ready.”

The challenge for visitors next year will be even greater as the last few Ryder Cups have been home-only, with the exception of the European Miracle at Medinah in 2012. Winning away has never been more difficult as courses are increasingly tailored to the statistical strengths of home players.

“I’m pleased that we’ve won a few Ryder Cups away from home,” said Donald, harking back to an almost ancient story. “We’ve won four times since 1987, the Americans haven’t. I think we’ll take advantage of that and try to learn from the Ryder Cups we’ve won. We’ll try to give the guys some confidence that it’s possible.”

When asked about his American counterpart Keegan Bradley’s recent victory at the BMW Championship, Donald went down familiar ground, expressing doubts that anyone could combine captaincy with participation in a modern Ryder Cup. No one has held both roles since Arnold Palmer in 1975.

“I was pleased for him,” said Donald. “He was a bit unlucky not to be in the team in Rome. I would say it’s likely he will be selected for the Presidents Cup. I’m sure he would prefer to be in it as a participant and as an individual rather than being a vice or assistant captain. But it’s a long way from now to New York. Form can change a lot and we know how quickly golf can change. But if Keegan keeps playing like this he could well play his way into the team.

“It would be very difficult for him,” Donald continued. “He would have to hand over responsibility to someone else. He would have time to make some decisions and have team meetings at night. But while he’s on the golf course, he can’t think about some of those things. He wouldn’t be watching how the others play, so he would have to rely on someone else to give him that information and make some of those decisions for him.”

As for his own decision, Donald was exemplary when it came to selecting LIV Golf League players like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, both of whom remain members of the DP World Tour and thus can continue to compete at Bethpage. He even made a peace offering to Sergio Garcia, who had cancelled his membership but had been dropping hints behind the scenes about rejoining.

“I’m happy to have as many players as possible to choose from and be eligible to play, so I’m happy Tyrrell is playing this week,” said Donald, who has no immediate plans to join the two deputy captains already in place, Thomas Bjorn and Edoardo Molinari. “He’s obviously done everything he needed to do under the DP World Tour guidelines. I sent Sergio a congratulatory message when he won the LIV event in Valderrama, but other than that I haven’t really spoken to him about him taking part.”

And what about Rahm, who played such a big part in Marco Simone’s European Championship win last September? Obviously all sides of the LIV/DP World debate would like to see him in that role next year.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Jon,” Donald said. “He knows exactly what’s going on. When he signed with LIV, he knew what the DP World Tour policy is. He has to play four events in a season to be eligible. And he can pay the fines or appeal like some of the others have done. It’s really up to him to do that. I really hope he does that and becomes eligible. He definitely mentioned at the PGA Championship that he’s willing to do whatever he can to commit to me and the team.”

The team. With the Europeans, it’s always about the team. They may not win in Bethpage, but that’s not because they played as 12 individuals.