“The discussions were long and thorough and we all came out with the agreement that Thomas merited the final pick”, said Clarke. “Graeme McDowell and Luke Donald, in terms of experience, could have been in the three, but those two haven’t quite been on top of their own games”.
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Smyth was one of Ian Woosnam’s assistants when the Welshman opted to select Clarke for The K Club in 2006 just weeks after the Dungannon man’s wife Heather had died of cancer.
Europe is looking for an unprecedented fourth straight win over the Americans from September 30-Oct. 2.
Westwood and Kaymer have always been touted as shoo-ins but Belgium’s long-hitting Pieters is the sixth rookie in this year’s time, joining fellow first-timers.
The automatic qualifiers were four-time major victor Rory McIlroy, Masters champion Danny Willett, British Open champion Henrik Stenson, Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose, Chris Wood, Sergio Garcia, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Andy Sullivan and Matt Fitzpatrick.
EUROPEAN captain Darren Clarke faces arguably the most hard decision of his career when he must decide between form and experience in naming his three Ryder Cup wild cards. It was a bit of a relief to get the phone call from Darren.
There was also disappointment for Ireland’s Shane Lowry who had staked his claim earlier in the season with a runner-up finish at the US Open in June but whose form has deserted him since. “Every year there’s a guy in my position that doesn’t get picked and it’s a story right now, but in a couple of week’s time when it all starts, I’m sure it’ll be forgotten that I’m not in the team”.
The 24-year-old was one of three captain’s picks, together with experienced duo Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood, announced by Clarke on Tuesday.
“All that being said, if these rumours prove to be true, Knox and Pieters both have just cause to be very disappointed indeed”.
The real question is why Clarke chose Pieters over Russell Knox. “He’s played unbelievably well during the qualification period”.
Englishman Westwood, the former world number one, first played in the biennial team event in 1997 and will be representing Europe for the 10th successive time.
Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren stood on the 18th tee in a tie for the lead with playing partner Pieters, but lost his ball after a wayward drive and the resulting triple-bogey seven dropped him into fifth place behind David Lipsky and Adrian Otaegui. The US side is going to be very strong, but I think we’re equally as strong.
Appearing via video link, Pieters said: “It’s a little bit insane, especially closing out the tournament like I did on Sunday”. “I had been playing well for a while but I guess the results were not there [before this weekend]”.
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Pieters underlined the confidence Clarke so admires in the the answer he gave when asked what he would bring to the team.
