Golf news - the whys and hows of being on the final team
The European team has been finalized by the captain and the American team has yet to reach its final folds. For the players who have been chosen and the ones that are standing in the line to wait for their turn, all had to have some criteria for being selected by the captain. Either they performed outclass this week or they had earned enough FedEx points throughout the season that lifted them in to the final European and American team.
Here are brief details of the players and the events in which they took place and got themselves the confirmed spot in the Ryder cup team.
Johnnie walker championship
Johnnie walker championship was one of the events that got five players into the team. This event was the penultimate event of the season and took place at the Gleneagles from 23rd -29th August, 2010.
The first of the five men that got into the team was Peter Hanson. He qualified the cut after winning the Czech open. Moreover he jumped from the 15th spot of the FedEx points to the 8th and to keep up with it he had to finish in the top 43, which he eventually did. Peter Hanson was one of the two players who celebrated their victory before been given the final call.
The second contender who fully utilized the event as a last opportunity was Miguel Angel Jimenez. When Peter Hanson won the Czech open he was pushed from the 8th spot to the 9th, which meant that if he won’t have made a cut in the Johnnie walker championship he would have been out of the world cup. Jimenez had to finish in the top twenty and he successfully achieved it and got himself the spot, which he needed to get back into the Ryder cup team.
The Barclays
The second event which took place last week at the Ridgewood country club from 26th -29th August, 2010 was another turning point.
This event was the first series of the playoff and the interesting part of the series was that couple of European team players left their major event and made an appearance at the Barclays. These players were Padraig Harrington, Paul Casey, Justine Rose and Luke Donald. However, out of these four two got the good news and rest two got kicked out. Padraig Harrington got the wild card based on his past performance, as he was the three time winner of a major in the same season. Moreover, at the Barclays he got tied at the seventh spot with five under, which meant that he was that one player who despite missing the Johnnie walker championship got the good news from home.
As for Luke Donald, he according to the captain of the team had all the qualifications of being a deserving candidate. In the past two seasons he had only one event in which he missed the cut and only one event which he didn’t win. Relating his wild card and the performance he delivered at the Barclays, Luke started the event with par but rose to three under by the final round and earned himself the top twenty, which was the requirement for the player.
The last player who got recognition was none other than Tiger Woods. He holds the title of world number one, although there were speculations in last days that Phil Mickelson might steal his thrown. But this did not happen, as Phil failed to finish in top fives of any of the nine events, which took place during the last month. As for Tiger he showed a considerable amount of improvement and gave a 4 under in the final round of the Barclays, which meant that he was able to make the cut in the next playoff series that was taking place at the TPC Boston this week.
These were the reasons behind the selection of the players that got a wild card, although Tiger hasn’t got any until now but according to the analyst, he is next in line after Padraig Harrington.
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