While Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer were, as expected, given two of the three captain’s picks at the official unveiling at Wentworth, Clarke opted for the young Belgian, Thomas Pieters, to complete his 12-man team for the tussle with the US at Hazeltine later next month.
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“I’ve been on tour for a long time and I’ve seen massive talent come along”, Clarke said after finally revealing his hand.
“The rookies on our team are experienced at playing over in the States”, he said.
“I was going to look towards experience and in Lee and Martin I’ve got two former world number ones, guys who bring a wealth of experience to the team”.
“The last was very hard”.
The final selection on the Ryder Cup team was hotly debated, with Thomas Pieters, Russell Knox, and Luke Donald all having strong cases to make the team.
Clarke admitted delivering the news to US-based Knox was one of the toughest moments of his career.
Among the eight players already on the team, Brooks Koepka is the only Ryder Cup rookie, giving the American side a combination of experience and some leeway to potentially bring on fresh blood to a squad that has lost eight of the last 10 matches in the biennial series.
“Last week I played with Thomas Pieters (in Denmark) and Thomas knew why I was playing with him”. I think it’s going to be a very close contest.
“It’s going to be a very tough task. I think we’ve got some world-class players”. Danny Willett is obviously the Masters Champion and we have people that have won U.S.
Europe is defending the Ryder Cup after winning the previous edition as host at Gleneagles in 2014.
The two-time major victor made his debut in the competition in 2010 and is already relishing another opportunity to lead Europe to glory.
“The first time I played the Ryder Cup, it was very overwhelming”, Kaymer told reporters.
Russell Knox today vowed to prove Darren Clarke wrong and show that he should have been on the European Ryder Cup team. “It was obvious by the way he said, “Hello” that it was bad news”.
“To win that tournament in the manner that he did (with birdies on the last three holes) impressed me and I found it impossible to leave him off the team”.
“I put all my heart in it – that’s all you can ask for and all I can give”.
Then came Clarke’s hardest job – the phone call to Knox. I haven’t really played in front of a crowd that’s against you. It’s nearly the end of the year but it’s a massive highlight. “I was playing well but the results weren’t there and I guess I had to step it up at the end”.
That win in Denmark was his third on the European Tour over the past year, and part of a rich vein of August form in which he also finished second in the Czech Masters and fourth in the Olympics.
The inclusion of 24-year-old Belgian Pieters, who won the Made in Denmark tournament on Sunday, means Europe has six rookies in its lineup for the September 30-Oct.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia adds yet more experience while rookies Rafa Cabrera Bello, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Andy Sullivan and Chris Wood also qualified.
Already established as a betting favorite in Las Vegas despite having lost eight of the last 10 Ryder Cups, the US team can change drastically depending on what Love does with his picks.
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Harrington has earmarked Pieters as the one to watch when Europe and the USA lock horns in Hazeltine on September 30 in Minnesota. He had a decent finish at The Open Championship, but finished second to last among all the players making the cut at the PGA Championship.
