Séamus Power will take another step towards a first Ryder Cup appearance by participating alongside Shane Lowry in the Hero Cup for the Great Britain and Ireland team.
Power, 35, leads the Fed Ex Cup rankings after a strong end to the year and has been asked by Europe's Ryder Cup captain to take part in the Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi, with Tommy Fleetwood put in charge of the GB & I line-up for the matchplay team tournament.
Donald will look closely at pairings and performances at the January 13-15 event ahead of the Ryder Cup clash with the USA in Rome next September.
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And Waterford's Power, with his second PGA Tour victory and a couple of top five finishes in his first three events of the new season to move to 28th in the world rankings, is definitely on the Englishman's radar for one of his captain's picks if he doesn't qualify automatically.
Lowry - who enjoyed a memorable debut Ryder Cup appearance in Whistling Straits last year - Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy currently occupy the three spots in the European Points list that secures automatic selection to the team.
Lowry, who occupies 20th spot in the world rankings, is fourth on the World Points list, behind McIlroy, Rahm and Alex Noren, while Power is in seventh place.
Fleetwood's GB & I team will also include Ewen Ferguson and Robert MacIntyre of Scotland, plus English quartet Tyrrell Hatton, Callum Shinkwin, Jordan Smith and Matt Wallace.
The Continental Europe team will be skippered by Francesco Molinari and includes reigning Irish Open champ Adrian Meronk of Poland, plus Noren (Sweden), Sepp Straka (Austria), Rasmus Hojgaard (Denmark), Victor Perez (France), Guido Migliozzi (Italy) and Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters (Belgium).
“Having worked closely with Tommy and Fran on building the two teams, I’m delighted with the mix of players who will be on show at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in January.
“We all thought it was important to combine experience and youthfulness and I think we have found that balance with a mixture of Major Champions and Ryder Cup players, alongside guys who are hoping to secure a spot in Rome next year," said Donald.
"We all thought it was important to combine experience and youthfulness and I think we have found that balance with a mixture of major champions and Ryder Cup players, alongside guys who are hoping to secure a spot in Rome next year."
Fleetwood commented: “I am really pleased with the players who will form the Great Britain and Ireland team next year.
“Having the experience of Shane and Tyrrell will be invaluable for the rest of the team in a match play environment but I think we are really strong throughout the team.
"We have proven winners in some of the biggest DP World Tour events and it will be great to have Séamus with us following his excellent start to the season in America.”
And Molinari said: Our team is packed full of exciting players who all have the attributes to excel in a match play contest and I’m excited to lead them into the Hero Cup next year.
"Some of our younger players have already shown incredible maturity in high-pressured situations and proved they can perform in big moments, so giving them the opportunity to compete on this stage alongside the likes of Alex Noren and Thomas Pieters will be really important at the beginning of what could be a big year for them."
One remaining place for each team will be allocated at the end of the DP World Tour calendar year.
The three-day event consists of one session of foursomes, one session of fourballs and one session of singles matches and all 20 players take part in each session.
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