Junior Ryder Cup returns to Ireland with Gallacher as captain

Ballyneety Golf Club will stage two days of international team golf next September. The Confederation of Professional Golf has confirmed Stephen Gallacher as European Captain for the 2027 Junior Ryder Cup, with matches running from 14 to 16 September and the closing singles moving to Adare Manor on the eve of the Ryder Cup itself.

For Gallacher it is a third captaincy, a European record. He led the side in Rome in 2023, where Europe won by 11 points and ended a 17-year wait, and again in New York last year, where the United States took the trophy by 17 and a half points to 12 and a half. A second win would put him alongside Macarena Campomanes and Andy Ingram as the only captains to manage it.

Each team is made up of twelve players, six boys and six girls. The event has run since 1997, and its alumni list is the reason clubs pay attention. Rory McIlroy, Nicolai Højgaard and Nicolas Colsaerts all played in it before going on to win Ryder Cups. Leona Maguire represented Europe in 2008 and has since taken 8.5 points from three Solheim Cup appearances.

Gallacher, 51, won four DP World Tour titles and played under Paul McGinley at Gleneagles in 2014. He set up a foundation supporting junior golf in Scotland and received an MBE in 2024.