Kaymer played the final round alongside Pieters and was quick to back the Belgian for a wild card, which Clarke will announce at Wentworth on Tuesday.
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“Having to phone Russell (on Monday) and give him the information was probably one of the toughest phone calls I’ve ever had to make”. Lee Westwood 11. Martin Kaymer 12.
Thomas Pieters was also a no-brainer for Smyth, despite Knox publicly stating last week: “If all he (Clarke) does is list those he thinks are playing the best right now, I don’t know how I can’t be in the top 12”.
It is unusual to have five rookies among the nine automatic qualifiers and, fantastic though they all are, a rookie is a rookie, and that makes it even trickier to hand a wild card to another Ryder Cup debutant.
But equally as impressive was the way he closed the tournament at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort, almost acing the iconic par three 16th hole but settling for birdie, and then also picking up shots on the final two holes.
Clarke mentioned that Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell were among the other men with Ryder Cup experience who were in his thoughts, but with Kaymer’s recent form far superior to that duo his decision was made for him. Andy Sullivan (England), US Masters champion Danny Willett (England), Matt Fitzpatrick (England), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) and Chris Wood (England).
Westwood acknowledged his joy in making the team, but added that as a close friend of Clarke’s he really wanted to work his way into the team automatically rather than rely on a wildcard selection. 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.
Dredge held a one-shot advantage at the end of his third round, but the Welshman paid the price for a double-bogey at the second and needed a long birdie putt at the last to take second place on his own.
Europe are out to win the Ryder Cup for the ninth time in 11 editions when the competition starts at Hazeltine National Golf Club on September 30 and Clarke said he was confident his team would thrive.
“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”.
Then it was down to Thomas and Russell Knox.
Englishman Westwood, the former world No. 1, first played in the biennial team event in 1997 and will be representing Europe for the 10th successive time. “He has the talent to go all the way to the top in the world in my belief”. He was fourth at the Olympics, then second when attempting to defend his Czech Masters title, before going one better and winning at the weekend.
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Appearing via video link, Pieters said: “It’s a little bit insane, especially closing out the tournament like I did on Sunday”.
