Who would you pick?

Based on current standings the European Ryder cup team would be as follows...

-McIlroy
-Dubya's Son
-Garcia
-Stenson
-Rose
-Kaymer
-Bjorn
-McDowell
-Donald's son

who would your Captain's picks be?

Poulter, Lowry, Westwood for me

Poults, Frannie and his father. I may consider someone else in stead of his father, eg. lw1 or Lowry, should they display good form in the next weeks.

Poults, Frannie and his father. I may consider someone else in stead of his father, eg. lw1 or Lowry, should they display good form in the next weeks.

Not really followed it much but I read that Langer was a serious option? Coco was saying it wasn't a great idea and you can see why in some ways but I think he"do probably do better than most of the guys listed.

Poulter, Lowry and Donald for me

Poulter, Donald & Molinari.
What's Harrington on the list for?
I'd rather have Casey (or Karlsson) if you're going back in to the archives.

I'd pick 2 from Poulter, Donald and Westwood (toss a coin - it's as meaningful as any other method) and then blood a real outsider but future star - say Blixt. This is just one of a multitude of reasons why I'm not the Ryder Cup captain. Or indeed captain of anything.

kwinigolfer wrote:What's Harrington on the list for?

Maybe it’s because we need somebody on the list who’s a) out of form, b) has a dodgy RC record and c) has a questionable chemistry with many other players. (no, not Tiger.)
Or maybe it's because Inco is Irish....  

Poulter and Lowry for their sheer doggedness and Gallacher because he's in form and is a proven match player (former Scottish Amateur Champion).

gaelgowfer wrote:Poulter and Lowry for their sheer doggedness and Gallacher because he's in form and is a proven match player (former Scottish Amateur Champion).

Ha ha, what a stupid reason to include Gallacher. That's like saying Ian Pyman is in with a shout because he won the AMateur Championship, except that the Scottish Amateur is much more tinpot.

Why not Monty? He's in decent form and playing in Scotland he would scare the sh!t out of the Americans.

Its a sad day when not even sirbenson picks Harrington   

id pick lowry because he won some big irish amateur championships therefor hes really good at matchplay!

super_realist wrote:

gaelgowfer wrote:Poulter and Lowry for their sheer doggedness and Gallacher because he's in form and is a proven match player (former Scottish Amateur Champion).

Ha ha, what a stupid reason to include Gallacher. That's like saying Ian Pyman is in with a shout because he won the AMateur Championship, except that the Scottish Amateur is much more tinpot.

What a sad wee bitter scot you are.  You shame the rest of us.

Molinari donald and Gallagher.

Though the line up isnt overly exciting.

Really? You're the one picking Gallacher on the very tenuous reason that he won the Scottish Amateur donkeys years ago.
Most would think your choice is based on his nationality rather than anything else.

If Gallacher was English, you wouldn't be asking for him to be included on the basis of a Scottish Amateur win, so if anyone is being bitter and petty, it's you by selecting Gallacher simply because he's Scottish, and you like to add a degree of Scottishness to everything you can.

In the interest of balance, she did also say he's running into form. Which is debatable - T4 and T15 in the Scottish and The Open respectively were good results, T47 at the WGC (+5 for the first two days would normally see you cut) not so good. I thinks he's a gritty player and could do well, but I'm not sure he's the best of the possible picks. I think picking him because he is Scottish is an interesting idea, but overlooks the fact that the crowd will be drawn from all over Europe (and I suspect the Scots will be in a minority compared with the non-Scots).

Poulter
Donald
Westwood

Not on form in strokeplay but Poulter is the new Monty (sorry Poults) and Donald and Westwood (I think?) are usually very good together in the team events.

Oh and none of them are Scottish...

(JOKE)

I think Luke Donald is pretty much as Scottish as Ken Brown and/or Sandy Lyle . . . . . .

I'd pick Poulter now and see how the others fare during August

Amazing love for Poultry. Crocked, bang out of form, think his last Matchplay events have even been fairly average. No real 2014 logic for choosing him.
If you picked a footballer on that basis you'd be lynched.

England picked Lampard . . . . .

Exactly Kwini.

!!
But you and I both know they'll pick Poulter and I probably would too.
Unlike Lamps.

On a related(!) subject, Tom Watson has pretty much said Woods will have to prove his fitness and form at the PGA otherwise he's toast - sure we all know that, but it's interesting that Watson is so specific, not least because they've not had a close relationship in the past.

They will pick Poulter but in reality its a complete punt with a fair bit of emotion based on past performances, the last one being 2 years ago.
They'll probably pair him with Rose who will carry him anyway.

kwinigolfer wrote:England picked Lampard . . . . .

and the other 10 losers.

to be fair Lampard had a pretty good season at Chelsea last year, better than a few other members of the England squad (though less good than others who weren't pîcked)...

A better comparison might be Spain selecting Casillas, despite him clearly being fairly useless for the last couple of years. We all saw how that one turned out...

Having said that, I'd still pick Poulter. He seems to just have that ability to switch it on for the Ryder Cup. He'd done very little to deserve a pick last time around, and look what happened!

I don't think they're any truly outstanding candidates for the other picks, they all have their plus and minus points. I would go with Molinari and Westwood (or maybe Donald and make Westwood VC), but with no great conviction.

Let's face it the formats bear zilch comparison to what they play week in and week out so in that sense form can go out the window a bit.

Indeed Diggers, but it's still interesting why certain players with zero form, such as Poulter can accrue lots of points when picked, whilst players like Nine Chins and Mickelson stink the place out.
Strange how that happens, sort of the reverse of England footballers, play well in domestic situations then are absolute garbage in tournaments.

I'd go Poulter, Westwood and Donald.

Not on form obviously, but they all seem to bring it to the table at the RC, must be the team game thing. I've got a feeling Donaldson would be a good addition, he comes across like Poulter to me. Harrington??

Having said that I have little more than and "at a glance results check" interest in the RC these days.

Lots of mediocre (relatively) players have had good RC's. Poultry is clearly a decent Matchplay golfer also clearly cares.
Woods WGC record shows he can play the format, I doubt in zillion years he cares as much as Poulter who has made his legend around the RC.
The big thing is the pairs element really, I suspect to the top players golf really is a solitary game and the idea of pairs is a bit weird and it shows. Even Faldo's record wasn't that great really.

I've posted this before:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/why-tiger-woods-fails-at-the-ryder-cup/

but it sums up very well Nine Chins and many Americans approach to Ryder Cup.

I don't buy they don't care, I just don't think they have the whole International Rivalry down pat. They only care for their own insular sports.

The yanks stuff the world in virtually every team sport they play.

Like what? And even if they did, as a population they aren't aware of it. Europeans intuitively know what rivalry is. USA, unless it's Russia or "the ragheads" aren't going to feel quite so strongly.

Your whole argument is based around the RC and golf. Golf isn't a team sport and it's not even the normal format. Its a freak event to judge anything sensibly by, though let's face it they used to spank GB and I and are still fine in the Walker cup and the women's.
Look at any American relay side, basketball, ice hockey, the Americas cup. If they compete in the sports they are as good as anyone at team format if not better.

the America's Cup? There was only 1 or 2 yanks on the team!

I didn't say they didn't play team events, I said they didn't play international team sport in a way which captures the domestic public's imagination. They care only for NHL, NFL,  NBA, Baseball etc. This years World Cup was perhaps their first taste of it on a real national scale.

For the record, USA are nowhere near being top of the Ice Hockey tree.

kwinigolfer wrote:England picked Lampard Gerrard . . . . .

There I've fixed that for you

Love to know how many English midfielders played better than Gerrard last year. He completely deserved a place on the team on his Liverpool form.

Diggers wrote:past performances, the last one being 2 years ago.

Well no Poopie Sherlock - there hasn't been a RC for 2 years. What do you expect?

Any captain would have to be a complete muppet - on a grander scale than even Monty - to ignore Poults

Indeed, they couldn't risk the fury of the RC Poulter fanboys.
If it was 10 years since the last one they'd still be licking his crack.

Well I think there are good reasons to lick Poulter's crack. You can't dispute that the man is a legend.

And, albeit not a reason in itself, the alternatives are not really overwealming are they?

Diggers wrote:Indeed, they couldn't risk the fury of the RC Poulter fanboys.
If it was 10 years since the last one they'd still be licking his crack.

You're being absurd now Diggers, European teams have always had that talismanic player, Monty, Seve, Faldo etc. If we actually went back 10 years looking for players who had a good Ryder Cup then Monty would be looking for a pick too, but we aren't, and if Poulter doesn't get a pick this time then the only way he'll get in next time is if he qualifies.

For someone who speaks in such derisory terms about the Ryder Cup, you don't half have an interest in it.
Personally, I think this Ryder Cup is going to be dreadful. The weather, venue and lack of top players is going to make it another rubbish event in a crap year for sport in this country.
I stand to be corrected, but I think it's going to be very flat.

super, are you already missing 9C?  

Pot kettle Super, you hate football yet trawled the football boards for an argument with anyone when the WC was on, and not about how crap football was.
Difference is I won't be watching the RC because its a manufactured farce that I have no interest in either team winning (marginal preference for USA).

Monty is telling McGinley to not pick Poulter.

http://www.back9network.com/article/monty-thinks-skipping-poulter-for-ryder-cup-is-a-good-idea/

Diggers wrote:Pot kettle Super, you hate football yet trawled the football boards for an argument with anyone when the WC was on, and not about how crap football was.
Difference is I won't be watching the RC because its a manufactured farce that I have no interest in either team winning (marginal preference for USA).

I wouldn't say I hate football Diggers, I do however hate football fans, football players and misappropriated hype and expectation.

Monty's ego can't have Poults pipping him as Europe's greatest RC player in modern times.

Why would Montgomerie pick a fight with Poulter? Say he's playing carp if he wants, but this is just plain stupid.
What an idiot - especially as Poults helped the bloviator to squeak his Celtic Manor win.
Montgomerie must be just about the most unpleasant man in Golf.

You can all say what you like about the RC, but it certainly stirs up the emotions as this thread shows. That said, you lot would argue about anything.

Poulter will probably get a pick, and I hope he plays well. But I can't help feeling Medinah was his zenith and he'll not rise to those heights again. As for the competition as a whole, match play is a compelling format, almost regardless of the quality of the golf or the golfers, I don't think this RC will be "flat", but I don't think either that it will be the roller coaster that the last couple have been, especially 2012.