“I can’t say it enough”, Love said at an August 29 Manhattan news conference in which he discussed the eight players who qualified automatically from a two-year points system that ended with the final round of The Barclays.
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“There were so many great choices”. His only previous Ryder Cup appearance came in 2008 at Valhalla, as part of the last U.S. team to triumph.
2016 has easily been the best year of Holmes’ career has he finished 3rd at The Open Championship and tied for 4th at The Masters. “But when that phone call did come last night, it was a very exciting moment”. “So just really excited to get back in the Ryder Cup format and get out there and play”. Holmes has played in one other Ryder Cup, and it was a resounding success. They went a combined 2-5-2 to earn the American side their eighth loss in the last 10 Ryder Cups. His length should be a strength at Hazeltine, a big ballpark that favors the longest hitters in the game. “He’s easy to pair”.
Love didn’t surprise many people with his first three picks. They would be the ideal mentors for any rookies on the Ryder Cup team.
World number nine Fowler had been considered a virtual certainty to make Love’s team, despite missing out on a place in the Tour Championship on Sunday as he slipped to 31st in the FedEx Cup standings.
This group of guys has been terrible in the Ryder Cup, losing seven of the last eleven Cups. He is 0-3-5 in two Ryder Cups and has played the most matches without a victory in Ryder Cup history. After posting top-10s in his next two starts, Fowler has just four top-10s in 17 starts since.
And Love, who was also captain of the United States team at Medinah in 2012, seemed to add further fuel to the flames in suggesting that his final pick would be based “statistically” and “emotionally” and also in learning from “mistakes of the past”. “We found no weaknesses in his game, and he’s such a great team mate”. He’s really confident on the big stage.
“He (Love) has got a great team around him and it’s going to be a lot of fun”.
Kuchar, who won a bronze medal at Rio, qualified 16th after tying for fourth at Crooked Stick.
“I thought his picks were interesting”. I don’t envy Davis’ position.
“I still have massive love for the European Tour and I’m going to watch Hazeltine with a sort of sadness that I can’t be part of that”. For me to make this team.
U.S. skipper Davis Love named his first three wildcards on Monday without the unpopular world No 7. We have so much respect for him (Love).
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Captains can certainly get in the way of winning – as Corey Pavin did by letting his wife take over the captaincy in 2010 and as the socially inept Nick Faldo did in alienating his team in 2008 – but the truth in the Ryder Cup’s the same as it ever was.
