Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke announced England’s Lee Westwood, Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters of Belgium as his three wildcards today.
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“Lee is a general amongst the team, He has great experience and knowledge and knows how to deal with the team room”.
“It came down to Thomas Pieters and Russell Knox and the phone call to Russell was one of the hardest I have ever had to make”.
Clarke was looking to balance out the team with experienced wild-card picks, putting Luke Donald – another former No. 1 and a four-time Ryder Cup victor – in contention to join Westwood and Donald.
The 31-year-old was overlooked for a wild card by European skipper Clarke in favour of Belgian youngster Thomas Pieters as the Scot’s hopes of a debut in the transatlantic tussle at Hazeltine next month were dashed.
Westwood, 43, will be making his 10th consecutive Ryder Cup appearance.
“The first time I played the Ryder Cup, it was very overwhelming”, Kaymer told reporters.
Speaking about the inclusion of Kaymer, Clarke said “Martin Kaymer has had six top-10s in his recent events and is somewhat of a Ryder Cup stalwart. I can’t wait to tee it up and give it 110 per cent”. He was duly impressed as the Belgian produced a super 62 in round one and went on to win the tournament.
“The talent they all possess, I have no worries at all about the strength of that team going to America”, Clarke said. As I’ve spoken all along with the qualification process and how the team was shaping up, I was going to look towards experience and in Lee (Westwood) and Martin (Kaymer) I have two former world number ones. Knox would have automatically qualified for the team if he were a European Tour member, but since he plays most of his golf in the U.S., he had to rely on a Captain’s Pick, which he was ultimately passed over for.
At 20th in the world – there are only five European players higher than him on the global order – and with two wins on the PGA Tour this season, Knox had staked a sturdy claim.
“I lost some sleep over it on Friday and Saturday night, not because I was really nervous, but there was so much going on and everybody is asking about it and I think it just gets to you a little bit”.
“I made a decision to take two weeks off to enjoy my win and I will never regret doing that”, he told BBC Sportsound.
Despite his disappointment at missing out on selection for the biennial clash at Hazeltine, Minnesota, starting on 30 September, Knox was magnanimous in hailing Pieters as a future “superstar” of the game. 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.
“I’ve always been a huge Thomas Pieters fan since I first witnessed”, said Clarke.
Pieters’s victory in Denmark followed a fourth-place finish at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and a runner-up showing at the Czech Masters.
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“And now to finalise the team of 12 guys who are going to Hazeltine to try and bring this handsome trophy back home with us”.
