Name your Euro WC choices

First topic message reminder :

Ok, Now that the Top 9 in in For Europe, name your choices for Wild Cards:

I'd go Poulter, Gallacher & Casey

Word is Westwood will add the Welsh Open to his schedule.

I'm more concerned about Gallacher, first Ryder Cup and he's 39. Doesn't seem a natural partner for anyone.

Would agree with you SR.....

Anyone else think Greensomes is a dreadful format?
Any time one of those is up at the club I turn my nose up.
I'd rather it was just 4xFourball Sessions in Ryder Cup.

I like the Gallacher pick; he has a very decent record at Gleneagles, is pretty solid and probably won't play more than once before the singles - and a singles win will more than justify his choice.

Regardless, a very strong team, just needs the best players to play great and the rest will look after themselves.

Biggest concerns right now are McIlroy and Stenson complaining about fatigue - can't comprehend why Rory didn't take this week off.

Kwini, I might be wrong but I think after the Mark James debacle in charge when he didn't play Coltart until the singles every Captain since has ensured each player plays at least 2 of the 4 sessions prior to the Singles.

Kwini

I am still not convinced the Ryder cup remains a priority for players chasing career grand slams or world dominance. Winning the fedex cup seems more a concern for Rory at the moment.

sirbenson wrote:Is McGinley part of the Chandler chain?

McGinley's 19 year relationship with ISM ended in 2010.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/golf/mcginley-out-on-his-own-after-severing-chubby-ties-26704980.html

McLaren wrote:Kwini

I am still not convinced the Ryder cup remains a priority for players chasing career grand slams or world dominance.  Winning the fedex cup seems more a concern for Rory at the moment.

Quite right too. Players as good as Rory shouldn't be giving the RC a second thought until he's on the plane to Gleneagles.

super_realist wrote:Anyone else think Greensomes is a dreadful format?
Any time one of those is up at the club I turn my nose up.
I'd rather it was just 4xFourball Sessions in Ryder Cup.

They don't play greensomes in the Ryder Cup, it's foursomes. It is a very tough format to play and imho a proper team game. Both players need to be on form, it is very difficult for one to prop up the other.

golfermartin wrote:

super_realist wrote:Anyone else think Greensomes is a dreadful format?
Any time one of those is up at the club I turn my nose up.
I'd rather it was just 4xFourball Sessions in Ryder Cup.

They don't play greensomes in the Ryder Cup, it's foursomes. It is a very tough format to play and imho a proper team game. Both players need to be on form, it is very difficult for one to prop up the other.

Whatever, it's still alternate shots after a drive is picked, wasn't sure what it was called.

super_realist wrote:

golfermartin wrote:

super_realist wrote:Anyone else think Greensomes is a dreadful format?
Any time one of those is up at the club I turn my nose up.
I'd rather it was just 4xFourball Sessions in Ryder Cup.

They don't play greensomes in the Ryder Cup, it's foursomes. It is a very tough format to play and imho a proper team game. Both players need to be on form, it is very difficult for one to prop up the other.

Whatever, it's still alternate shots after a drive is picked, wasn't sure what it was called.

No it's not. You have to drive alternately. There is no picking a drive!

super_realist wrote:I'm more concerned about Gallacher, first Ryder Cup and he's 39. Doesn't seem a natural partner for anyone.

Bjorn and Westwood could partner him.

Mac, Digs,
Rory will be in the Top Five going to Atlanta whether he plays Denver or not - and if you're in the Top Five going in to the Tour Championship you control your own destiny.
In my opinion he has a better chance of winning at East Lake if he skips Cherry Hills - plus he'd be more rested for the RC which perhaps he doesn't give a monkey's about. Not exactly a stellar record in RC play so maybe that's the case!

Only he knows how he feels Kwini, he's on good form, apparently spends his life playing golf or in the gym so why not play.
I'm not sure having a bad record necessarily means a player doesn't care or try, maybe he's just not as great a Matchplay golfer.

kwinigolfer wrote:

Biggest concerns right now are McIlroy and Stenson complaining about fatigue - can't comprehend why Rory didn't take this week off.

Kwini - really?

$1.4m, 2,500 fedex points up for grabs and a step closer to the $10m bonus. Pretty sure everyone would prioritise the playoffs over the Ryder Cup.

If the system was truly meritocratic and the top 6 from the European list were selected followed by the first six not already qualified from the world list the team would be;

McIlroy
Stenson
Dubuisson
Donaldson
Garcia
Bjorn

Rose
Kaymer
McDowell
Gallacher
Donald
Poulter


Just reinforcing that Donald was pretty hard done by.

Personally, with 2 debutants in the team already I would have gone with experience over Gallacher, I know he did well in Italy and almost qualified but it wasn't exactly a top field was it?

Westwood has a far better long game than Donald and is not such a bad putter. Donald usually has a brilliant short game. But when it comes to 4-balls/4-somes I guess it's important to have somebody who can keep the ball in play. This may be why Westy has been preferred.

super_realist wrote:I'm more concerned about Gallacher, first Ryder Cup and he's 39. Doesn't seem a natural partner for anyone.

Perhaps it's just a case of some folk need more time to mature.  Besides which, the Captain is under no obligation to pick him for the 4-somes matches which, in any event, I'd only play my most experienced players and although the 4-ball format contains its own subtleties of play, he would nevertheless, at least be playing his own ball.

He's earned his place on the team.  Deal with it.

He didn't earn a place, he was a pick.

If he'd earned a place, he'd have qualified.

super_realist wrote:He didn't earn a place, he was a pick.  

If he'd earned a place, he'd have qualified.

Well maybe he cleaned McGinleys balls?

super_realist wrote:He didn't earn a place, he was a pick.  

If he'd earned a place, he'd have qualified.

Well, the Captain clearly felt he'd earned a pick.  Suppose he's wrong too?

Pedant alert. Mrs Salmond is back.

If he'd been called Espen Johansson and been from Finland you wouldn't give a toss.

Gallacher was next on the list and he made a real effort to qualify so I think he fully deserves to be included.

gaelgowfer wrote:
Deal with it.

Without doubt the most childish comment I've seen on here for a long long time

Well McGinley went with the 3 picks I suggested, he obviously must have read my post. Hardly the most surprising selection.

I'm not sure why there is a need for a qualification process. Why not just have 12 captain's picks? It works for every other sport. You don't see the England cricket team picked on a ranking list of best averages.

kwinigolfer wrote:Mac, Digs,
Rory will be in the Top Five going to Atlanta whether he plays Denver or not - and if you're in the Top Five going in to the Tour Championship you control your own destiny.
In my opinion he has a better chance of winning at East Lake if he skips Cherry Hills - plus he'd be more rested for the RC which perhaps he doesn't give a monkey's about. Not exactly a stellar record in RC play so maybe that's the case!

Rory's comments a few months before Celtic Manor about the RC not being important and being an "exhibition" was his honest opinion at the time and id say it's still his opinion.

True greats of the game only care about Majors and fair play to them for that............

Don't hope Rory turns into a European Tiger. As much as he has that extra gear he also has that "toothache" attitude which would poison any team. I think this RC will be pivotal in judging whether he'll be / he is a great RC player.

raycastleunited wrote:

gaelgowfer wrote:
Deal with it.

Without doubt the most childish comment I've seen on here for a long long time

Oh and I suppose s_r calling me Mrs Salmond isn't?

Had you engaged both of your brain cells, it ought to have occurred to you there might have been a posting history attached to that comment.

Allow me to enlighten you.  From a previous thread, I wrote ...

Indeed Bob although I actually said he was "in form" a subtle but important difference.  

Through sheer laziness, I couldn't be bothered looking for "someone else" so I just based my picks on the given list.

Nevertheless, given Gallacher currently enjoys a ranking of 7th place on the European pga tour, seems to me this sufficiently demonstrates consistently good form and when you add the fact that he clearly understands the nature of match play having won through eight straight rounds of it, which includes a 36-hole final, seems to me he's as worthy of a place as anyone else on that list.  

super_realist's response ...

You do realise he won the Scottish Amateur way back in 1992 don't you? 22 years ago. It's way more than half his life ago. You can't possibly use it as justification for inclusion.

Find me a pro, who hasn't won a matchplay tournament of that lowly a stature.

Had you really been paying attention to s_r's posting history, you ought to have realised by now that he hates pretty much everything about Scotland and takes every opportunity to slag it and its people off.

Gael, I thought I had a very good point about Gallacher, you cited a 22 year old tournament partly as a justification for a pick.

Show me a top pro who hasn't won a matchplay tournament, and it's almost certainly most will have won a better one than the tinpot bracket of the Scottish Amateur.

I don't hate Scotland as a country, I like living and working here, I hate the clamour for a Scottish identity and the dreadfully forced Scottishness people love to project simply because of where they were born, in many respects it's a truly rubbish country, and I dislike your insistence on waving a flag for anything that has at some point had a piece of shortbread or a seen a piece of tartan and claiming it as Scottish and your insistence on typing in a contrived and laughable Scottish vernacular to emphasise your "scottishness"

So if I'm categorised as disliking everything about Scotland, you could be accused of being a blinkered apologist for it and everything within it, so long as you consider it Scottish.

Furthermore, I didn't mention Gallachers "Scottishness" as a reason for him NOT to be involved. I stated it was due to his journeyman status, and lack of game dynamics.
He's just, in my opinion, an average player having a bit of a purple patch.

Just how much would you be championing the cause of Gallacher if he were Dutch, Swiss or woe betide English for instance? Not much.

I think McDowell would be the perfect playing partner for Gallacher since he and Rory are not such close friends anymore.

sr, I'm not going to attempt to respond to what can only be described as a diatribe from start to finish.

I will say only this.  I picked Gallacher because none of the other more established names were showing sufficient current form to warrant selection ... in my view.  And, has already been pointed out, he almost made the team automatically.  He clearly deserves to be in the team and I don't understand why just because I am a scot this should preclude me from choosing a scot.

Yet you felt compelled to shoe-horn in a quite superfluous and very distant win in the Scottish Amateur as if it was some sort of "piece de resistance" that made your argument irrefutable.

He might well "deserve" to be on the team as you put it, I'd describe it more as being one of several  "worthy" of being there, my point, which you've completely missed was that I don't think he'll be very good because he's a bit one dimensional.

People who fail to make the team on merit don't deserve to be on the team, no arguments even if they are one place out, so I don't buy that argument regarding Gallacher!

So Harrington, MAJ, Olazabal added as vice-captains.

John Cregan

I'm not a massive fan of McIlroy but I can't disagree with his comments about the RC. I just can't grasp this team Europe thing. I would probably have it right down on my list of priorities if I were a top pro.

If it weren't a priority, why would they play it? They could simply make themselves unavailable. They aren't obligated to play, whilst McIlroy is quoted as saying he never "got" or "understood" the Ryder Cup until he played in it.

Well I think the same applies to many US players. Bradley yesterday admitted that he cried when he got the phone call from Watson.

Probably for PR reasons S_R, look at the reaction to McIlroys comments, it goes against the grain so better to keep quiet and get on with it.

pedro I'm not sure Bradley is fully compos mentis to begin with. super- Perhaps sponsors encourage them to play? I'm sure there is a lot of politics which makes it less hassle to play than to not.

Inco, there are no sponsorships in the Ryder Cup. Everything is Ryder Cup gear.

I may be naive, but I really think the majority of the players do really want to play in the Ryder Cup due to its competitive nature.

lorus59 wrote:I may be naive, but I really think the majority of the players do really want to play in the Ryder Cup due to its competitive nature.

I don't think that's naive - I'd say most of even the very top players (we all know the one or two exceptions) REALLY want to be part of it. On the contrary, rather than this being a naive viewpoint I'd say those who disagree with it are overly cynical

I'm sure they do all want to play, must be a great laugh and so etching a bit different plus you get the overblown hype train adulation.
I'm equally sure most of them, especially the guys who are less big names, would trade a RC for a couple of tournament wins.

McGinley's winning putt was probably worth more to him financially than anything he did solo.

Not sure its about money, they are all massively overpaid these days anyway. It's the w's that count at the end of a career.

No doubt, how many times have we seen that putt replayed over the years......can anyone even remember his tournament wins? Kind of ironic when you consider putting was McGinley's weakness.

Having "Ryder Cup" player on the CV doesn't harm a player's marketability. The RC is probably watched by more non golfers than any other competition.

I've never heard a golfer who's played RC diss it - closest was probably back when O'Meara acted as Woods's surrogate to demand pay for play.

I believe all the Americans absolutely LOVE being on the Team, PC Team also probably, though for Ryder Cup Woods might be an exception.

There's a sense that it's become a little jaded for some Europeans; sincerely hope that's not true as it's a wonderful showpiece for the sport.

Which Euros do you think are jaded? Some perhaps for playing too much, but for WANTING it?

Coco is the only one I have my doubts about - and that probably comes from winning too much too early