Twice major victor Martin Kaymer has urged European captain Darren Clarke to pick Belgian Thomas Pieters on Tuesday as one of his three wildcard choices for next month’s Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, Minnesota.
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Knox’s focus on the PGA Tour – where he is ranked seventh in the FedEx Cup standings – may have cost him.
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.
Westwood is set to take part in his 10 Ryder Cup, while Kaymer will be making his sixth appearance at Hazeltine.
Westwood has not won a tournament since April 2015, but he came joint-second behind compatriot Danny Willett – one of Clarke’s automatic picks – at this year’s Masters.
Captain Darren Clarke was reluctant to add another debutant to the five who qualified automatically, but ultimately “found it impossible” not to select Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, who finished fourth in the Olympics, second in the Czech Masters and won in Denmark on Sunday.
Pieters, 24, was picked ahead of Scotland’s Russell Knox, having bolstered his case for inclusion with a stunning opening round of 62 alongside Clarke at last week’s Made in Denmark tournament.
“Martin Kaymer is somewhat of a Ryder Cup stalwart and another man I have enormous trust in”.
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.
Darren played alongside him for the first two rounds and I know he was hugely impressed, telling us that Pieters was awesome and would go on to be world No1, no question.
“He’s very long off the tee and has a great short game so I think maybe the captain has the option of playing him in many different formats with many different players”. I was very disappointed not to have gotten the nod. “(The American) team is shaping up very strongly, but my players are world class in their own right.
“Let’s be honest, it came down to Thomas Pieters or me”.
Russell Knox may not be pencilling the Ryder Cup into his diary after he failed to gain a wild card yesterday but the spurned Scot is determined to prove that European skipper Darren Clarke was wrong not to call on his services.
“Lee and Martin were two pretty obvious choices but the last one was very hard”, Clarke told reporters at Wentworth. Russell has played unbelievably well over the qualification period.
“I like to let the golf do the talking”. It was probably one of the toughest calls I’ve had to make.
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“In Lee Westwood I have one of most experienced Ryder Cuppers of all time – it’s his 10th appearance”. “Some people will say he deserves this position on the team”.
