File – In this Sunday, July 31, 2016 file photo, Martin Kaymer watches his tee shot on the sixth hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters will fill out the European team as Darren Clarke’s captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine from September 30-Oct. 2.
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Smyth did not agree with those sentiments, although he had sympathy for Knox, who finished 10th in World points, just one place behind Matthew Fitzpatrick, the last automatic qualifier from that list. He also finished third in Thailand and second in Abu Dhabi earlier this year.
Kaymer, 31, has not lifted a trophy since claiming his second major title at the 2014 US Open, but delivered six top-10 finishes in his last 12 events. Knox is not only ranked higher in the world rankings, 20th vs Pieter’s 41st, but has two wins on the PGA Tour, the Travelers Championship a couple of weeks ago and the WGC-HSBC Champions last November during the wrap-around portion of the season.
Pieters, 24, followed his fourth place at the Olympics by winning the Made in Denmark title on Sunday – having failed to defend his Czech Masters title by just one shot in between those events.
But while Pieters was storming to victory in Denmark, Scotland’s Knox finally ran out of steam when finishing The Barclays with a one-under 70, leaving the Belgian as the clear first choice.
“Last week I played with Thomas Pieters (in Denmark) and Thomas knew why I was playing with him”, said Clarke.
It boiled down to Pieters vs. Russell Knox, players who have won events on different sides of the Atlantic this month. It is the first time that Irish golf has only had one representative on the European team since coincidentally Clarke’s debut, in 1997, under the late Seve Ballesteros at Valderrama.
Clarke selected Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters to complete the European line-up to take on the United States in Minnesota next month.
“If I’d played there and played well I might have been in exactly the same position as Thomas, but it’s impossible to say what would have happened had I done this or not”, he added. He wanted to be fresh for the FedEx [play-offs]; that was obviously very important to him and that’s fine. I had to phone Russell and tell him yesterday. “He’s played unbelievably well during the qualification period”. I’m going to leave all the big decisions to him.
“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 that’s been made”.
He said: “The past few days have been some of the toughest of my golfing career but it’s been wonderful to see the team take shape”.
Kaymer is the type of player who could be thrown into any situation and handle it, be that teaming up with a rookie, leading the way in singles or even watching on if asked to sit out matches.
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“Myself and Darren are very close and I was very relieved and thrilled to get the pick”.
