Ryder Cup - European Picks

Rory McIlroy
Danny Willett
Henrik Stenson
Chris Wood
Sergio García
Rafael Cabrera-Bello
Justin Rose
Andy Sullivan
Matthew Fitzpatrick


The above nine have qualified automatically for this year's Ryder Cup, which 3 will join them on the 29th August when Darren Clarke will announce his wildcards?

Kaymer, Westwood and Molinari for me, sorry Russell.

Kaymer, Hatton and Lowry for me

kaymer Westy and Knox for me.

i think Kaymer and Westy are nailed on

Lowrys form has been terrible since the US open .

if Donald has another good performance before Deadline day i can see him getting in ahead of Knox.

Kaymer, Knox, Soren.

Kaymer, LW and Kjeldsen.

DC needs some more RC experience on his team. But apart from LW and Kaymer there's no obvious. If SK pulls a good result this week it'll probably be him. Lowry has blown it I think.

In general I also think the team would benefit from more continental players and SK is experienced (albeit not in RC), in reasonable form and well liked so he could fit the bill.

Knox is a bit of an outsider. He may know the Americans and may be in form but is an uncertainty when it comes to the team dynamics. There may be the sentiment that he hasn't 'earned' his spot by not having played regularly on the ET. And we can just look across the pond to see what team dynamics, or lack hereof, means in the RC, despite being loaded with in-form and world class players.

I almost voter for Luuke .. he just seems to be coming into a SMALL amount of form but has the experience. If the deadline were a couple of weeks later he could have had a bigger shout but as it is, just not quite enough

Westwood, Noren and Pieters. Westwood for experience, the other two are in a bit of form.

Westwood,Kaymer and Pieters for me.

No way is Darren going not to pick Westwood or Kaymer and Pieters has shown good sustained form over the last 12 months or so.

Kaymer, Donald and Kjeldsen for me.

I've gone for the obvious, Kaymer, Westwood, Knox. The experience of the first two will be needed, with a fair few rookies in the team, and I think Knox has played well enough to deserve a place over the others.

beninho wrote:I've gone for the obvious, Kaymer, Westwood, Knox. The experience of the first two will be needed, with a fair few rookies in the team, and I think Knox has played well enough to deserve a place over the others.

Same 3 for me for the same reasons. Also, would Knox have made it automatically if his WGC win had "counted"?

Every RC selection has it's near misses, Kjeldsen has performed well as has Noren so both of them have a good shout. Around the time of the US Open I would have said Lowry was a certainty but his form has definitely dipped. Can understand the clamour for the experience of Donald but that would perhaps be the biggest gamble and Clarke would get pilloried if he selected Donald and he didn't perform.

I suspect Willett might be a weak link, he's been on the beach since winning at Augusta.

For me it has to be Pieters, Kaymer and Westwood. Knox for me would be too much of a safe pick, Lowry has well and truly played his way of contention and seems to be still suffering over his US Open loss. Noren has probably left his run too late and I don't think Donald or McDowell deserve a pick. And the rest for me are huge outsiders

Kjeldsen has been way better than Westwood for the last 2 years SirB. Hardly a huge outsider.

Westwood has experience, but other than his Masters performance, not much else.

Kaymer, Westwood, Knox

super_realist wrote:Kjeldsen has been way better than Westwood for the last 2 years SirB. Hardly a huge outsider.

Westwood has experience, but other than his Masters performance, not much else.

So you think Kjeldsen as much of a chance as Westwood?

Interesting to see Clarke and Pieters paired together in Denmark this week.....(Sullivan alongside)

I don't see why not SirB, I'm not saying he's a certain pick, but I think to say he's a huge way off is a mistake. I think the picks could easily come from around 6 players all on a similar sort of level.

Saying that, I do think Westwood will go, not because he's especially on form, but because of his RC experience which will be helpful in a team with lots of inexperienced players, but I don't think the other 5 would be a "huge" way off.

Lowry would be a huge way off though, he's been chronic.

sirbenson wrote:

So you think Kjeldsen as much of a chance as Westwood?

No, but that is due to the biased thinking of Clarke and not who is playing the better golf.

hypothetical.

Suppose Knox's HSBC win had counted in the Rankings and he qualified on merit, and knocking Fitzpatrick out of the Top Nine.

Would you be picking him as a wildcard?

Fitzpatrick has had a good season and a half, I'd probably stick him in.

Depends if he has learned to change his own diaper yet.

I doubt this will be popular but that European side looks pretty dreadful to me.
I see a hammering from the US coming

MustPuttBetter wrote:I doubt this will be popular but that European side looks pretty dreadful to me.
I see a hammering from the US coming

Might be unpopular, but not unbelievable. I admit I went to the bookies to put money on an American win, but the odds were so pathetic as it's a two horse race, I plumped for the draw.

Hard to see how Kaymer and Westwood are not in the team come next month....

Here are the various odds! For what it's worth Pieters odds have dropped and Kjeldsen is an outsider Sr, I know odds don't indicate what Clarke will do and it's all speculative!
http://www.oddschecker.com/golf/ryder-cup/european-wild-card

McLaren wrote:Depends if he has learned to change his own diaper yet.

When has anyone from the UK ever called a nappy a diaper Mac? You're more mid-atlantic than G-Mac.

MustPuttBetter wrote:I doubt this will be popular but that European side looks pretty dreadful to me.
I see a hammering from the US coming

Yep, like the last few RCs I guess...

MustPuttBetter wrote:I doubt this will be popular but that European side looks pretty dreadful to me.
I see a hammering from the US coming

It often looks that way though MPB, how often have the Americans looked better on paper, riddled with major winners and highly ranked players, only to get beaten regularly by a team that looks hopeless?

Mac,
WTF are you for?
Apart from Tiger and Doak??

kwini/GPB

Sorry, sensible answer would be that I would probably take FitzzyKins if he had just missed out.  No one outside the automatic qualifiers (and even some inside) have a really strong case for getting a pick so may as well base it on points collected.

navyblueshorts wrote:

MustPuttBetter wrote:I doubt this will be popular but that European side looks pretty dreadful to me.
I see a hammering from the US coming

Yep, like the last few RCs I guess...

This side looks weaker to me than the last couple Navy. You can look at them separately you know....

The last one looked pretty weak too with a busted flush in Poulter, a dreadful Gallagher who won zero points and quite a few unknown quantities.

We'll see soon, but I do know what you mean, but on the other hand sometimes you've had an American team which looked like it should be amazing, but turned out to get pumped.

super_realist wrote:

MustPuttBetter wrote:I doubt this will be popular but that European side looks pretty dreadful to me.
I see a hammering from the US coming

It often looks that way though MPB, how often have the Americans looked better on paper, riddled with major winners and highly ranked players, only to get beaten regularly by a team that looks hopeless?

True, but often you could make an argument as to why the European side might be stronger, even if based on rankings or whatever it didn't seem that way.

This time though, to me, Fitzpatrick, Sullivan, Cabrero Bello, Wood - i'm not so sure.
They've qualified on merit and fair play to them and I suspect some might do well, I like Sullivan particularly. But, and bearing in mind this is matchplay so psychology is a part of it, I doubt they're striking fear into the hearts of the US

super_realist wrote:The last one looked pretty weak too with a busted flush in Poulter, a dreadful Gallagher who won zero points and quite a few unknown quantities.

We'll see soon, but I do know what you mean, but on the other hand sometimes you've had an American team which looked like it should be amazing, but turned out to get pumped.

True but that's sort of what I mean in that, altho form wise, ranking wise etc, Poulter for example looked weak, you could make an argument for some of the US side possibly not wanting to play him. I can't see the same thing re Chris Wood. We'll see, as you say

America have a habit of making poor choices though and players who simply can't get a positive win ratio despite their opposition being supposedly lesser players.

I suppose that's what makes it an interesting competition. You might be right about Chris Wood not being an intimidating player to play, but then no European should be intimidated about playing the likes of Furyk or Mickelson because they've got shocking win/loss ratios. They'd have to fancy their chances, whoever they are.

I can't disagree with any of that in truth.
In terms of stature it just feels like a massive mismatch to me.
I've got a bad feeling. I think we're going to need a bigger boat.....

I actually think America will (and need) to win for the good of the competition.

However, a win is likely in my opinion due to Europe getting a bit stale and less hungry for it, rather than America suddenly developing a team ethic and starting to play as a united team rather than a disparate bunch of individuals.

No Padraig option  

Seriously though, I went for Westwood and Kaymer who are definite stick-ons and for my third Donald. It will depend on how he goes at the Barclays but with a little bit of form, a lot of experience and a proven match-play record I reckon Clarke may just see him as the right final choice.

Regardless of who makes the final team or who's favored "on paper"... American team will probably do what they usually do... succumb to the pressure and find a way to lose.

American's problem is opposite of what many people think. Truth is they want it TOO much... and get themselves so wound up not enough of them can perform in the key moments. Meanwhile Euro's seem to find a way to bury that big putt at just the right time....

That's the American story and you can stick with it . . . . . . . . !

The likes of Wood,Sullivan,Fitzpatrick are all capable and are more likely to gel as a team with Mcilroy,Garcia,Westwood,Kaymer. That is a big reason why Europe keep winning. Nothing to do with number of majors won or big ego's. It will be tough, but I expect another European victory.

Sorry forgot the current Masters,Open and Olympic champions. Really does look a weak side....

Faldono1fan wrote:Sorry forgot the current Masters,Open and Olympic champions. Really does look a weak side....

Never bother about who holds what Faldo, America used to brag about it and they held everything multiple times over and it meant sweet FA in pretty much every Ryder Cup in the last dozen or so.

sirbenson wrote:Hard to see how Kaymer and Westwood are not in the team come next month....

Here are the various odds! For what it's worth Pieters odds have dropped and Kjeldsen is an outsider Sr, I know odds don't indicate what Clarke will do and it's all speculative!
http://www.oddschecker.com/golf/ryder-cup/european-wild-card

Some of these odds are way off. 2/1 on Gmac? Wtf?
And 50/1 on Kjeldsen, when this weeks tourney is being played in his home town and he'll likely do well. I think I'll just put a 10'er on him.

Agree with some that the Euro team looks weak. Wood coming off injury, Sully out of form, Fitz a question mark, Rory with putting woes, Willett with sun burn and sand is his speedos. Wild card options are not convincing either.
I only feel comfortable with Stenson, Rose, Rafa and Sergio.

Not convinced about Rafa TBH. Seems to buckle under pressure when it really matters. Having said that I don't personally buy into this is a weak European team. In fact I would venture to say that the US have some issues. Speith has problems keeping the ball on the fairway, Kuchar has not been his consistent self, DJ can be hit and miss and none of them have great RC records. Add to the fact that the pressure will be more on the US...

Yeah but Rafa is in decent form and has proven himself in match play.

Agree about the US team also, but still think they look marginally stronger, with Koepka and Reed as good add-ons, plus they got rid of Tiger. On the other hand, if they pick Bubba and Furyk they'll add a huge amount of scar tissue which could be decisive.

Likely pairings?

Rose & H
Rafa & Sergio
Willett & Westwood
Rory & ? Kaymer? Does Rory have a natural partner? Lowry would normally fill that bill perhaps, but not in his current form.

Don't know who'd best pair w/Sullivan or Wood or Fitz.
Or Mr X.

My guess is that Sergio and Rory will be partners.

My guess Opening pairings for Team Europe (if it is Fourball).

Rose & Stenson
Rory & Sergio
Rafa & Martin
Danny & Russell

They might split up the Vets if it is Foursomes in the opening session.