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 next month.
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The third pick seems to be between Pieters, Scotland’s Russell Knox and Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland who has played in each of the last four editions.
Pieters would have been a lock, if not for the fact that out of the nine players who have qualified automatically for the team, five are Ryder Cup rookies.
“Let’s make no bones about it, I think it will be tough”, admitted Westwood, who will make his 10th consecutive appearance in the biennial event after being selected along with fellow former world number one Martin Kaymer.
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.
“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 that’s been made”, added the Scot, who won the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai last November.
Pieters stood out, though, after an impressive run of finishes over the past month: Fourth place at the Olympics, second place at the Czech Masters, and then a third victory in the past year at the Made in Denmark where he birdied the last three holes to win.
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.
Clarke’s three picks were Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters.
Russell Knox admits he is desperate to win the FedEx Cup to prove he should have been given a Ryder Cup wild card ahead of a player rated in the same league as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. “That was an incredibly hard decision and I have not slept an bad lot; having to phone Russell was one of the toughest phone calls I have ever had to make”.
“You try to win tournaments every week, so to do it at that point with the pressure on me was very satisfying”, he said of his victory on Sunday.
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. “But if he needs to pull me to one side and have a chat and ask me my thoughts, I’m happy to do that; I can fall back on ten Ryder Cups”.
“I’ve been on tour for a long time and I’ve seen massive talent come along”, Clarke said. “I’m playing the best golf of my life and whatever I’m doing right now is working”.
“I’m incredibly proud”, said Westwood.
“It’s going to be a monumental task but I’ve got full confidence in the team we’re going to take”.
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“In two years’ time, I hope myself and a couple of other Scottish guys are on the team”.
