European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke selected Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters as his three wild cards for next month’s defence of the trophy at Hazeltine, with Graeme McDowell notably missing.
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The name of Thomas Pieters popped up more than any other.
Clarke said his call to Knox, the world No20, was “really, really hard to make”, with the Scot seeking to make a rookie appearance of his own.
“Last week I played with Thomas Pieters (in Denmark) and Thomas knew why I was playing with him”, said Clarke. “He is going to blossom”, Clarke said.
Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer were “very obvious” choices as two of the captain’s picks, Clarke said after making the announcement at the European Tour’s headquarters at Wentworth. (In fact, he is ranked higher than all three of Clarke’s picks.) But Pieters, 24, who won the 2012 NCAA Championship at Riviera while playing for Mike Small and IL, simply has been the hotter player. It was a very short phone call.
Clarke used his three picks Tuesday on the Ryder Cup experience of Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, and the raw talent and recent form of Thomas Pieters.
Masters champions Danny Willett, Chris Wood, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Andy Sullivan and Matt Fitzpatrick qualified automatically, along with four-time major victor Rory McIlroy, British Open champion Henrik Stenson, Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. There is nobody that has that amount of experience on the team. We set our schedules and this is an insanely busy month for me with the FedExCup play-offs, which were just as much of a goal as the Ryder Cup at the start of the year.
Lowry, we now know, really had to play his way into the team and that proved beyond him. It will be interesting to see if he can continue his fine form into the Ryder Cup.
Kaymer, a two-time major champion and former number one player in the world, hasn’t won in over two years and is now ranked thirty spots below Knox in the OWGR, but his play in the 2012 Ryder Cup, dubbed the “Miracle at Medinah” in which the Europeans overcame a huge deficit on the final day to win, likely played a part in Clarke’s decision.
“The manner in which he’s played golf these past few tournaments – fourth in the Olympics, to go to Czech and competing with birdie on the last green, and last week, to do what he did, to birdie the last three holes to win the tournament in the fashion that he did, just impressed me that much”.
If he had been, Knox would be an automatic qualifier.
“I said all along I would not pick a rookie, I would be reticent to do so”, Clarke said. Of course I feel like I deserve to be there and should be playing but I’m not, so I have to respect the decision.
“He then went through a bit of a lull, but made his case that he could get in this team, and then made that late run, finishing fourth at the Olympics, finishing second in the Czech Republic and then absolutely played fantastic golf to win in Denmark”.
Knox wouldn’t change his plans over the last few weeks, including declining to play in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour the week after he won the Travelers event, where another strong result might have seen him qualify automatically.
Yet, there was evidence too that Clarke had been swayed by those who support the PGA European Tour. No other player has won more during that span.
I can’t wait to actually tee it up and give it a 110 per cent and earn points.
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“It’s been a little bit insane”, Pieters said. “I was playing well but the results weren’t there and I guess I had to step it up at the end”. “I’ll be rooting for the team”.
