Ian Poulter will make his fifth Ryder Cup appearance this year
Ian Poulter of England has been added to the published field of next month’s Ryder Cup, when he will represent Europe, as announced by the European team captain, Jose Maria Olazabal on Monday, August 27, 2012.
Poulter secured a place in the European team through one of the two wildcard picks made by Olazabal. The other player, who made it to the team, was Nicolas Colsaerts – the only Belgian who made it to the European team, in the history of the event.
According to Olazabal, the choice of taking Poulter on board was quite obvious because of his impressive track record in the last four appearances that he made in the tournament.
In addition to that, his recent track record on the European Tour also made him a deserving candidate for the captain’s pick. He recorded six top-10 finishes in 12 European Tour events that he has played in 2012.
"Every one of you pretty much guessed Ian was going to be there. That was not a difficult pick because he has a great Ryder Cup record and he's playing well," Olazabal said.
"He had some issues earlier this season when he got ill and couldn't play as much as he wanted,” he continued. “But his attitude and his spirit in the Ryder Cup has always been great and he is a player that likes to be in that environment”.
"It gets the best out of him. At Valhalla in 2008 and at Celtic Manor in 2010 you didn't need to motivate him,” he added.
Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Francesco Molinari, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Peter Hanson and Martin Kaymer are the other players who will be competing against their rivals – the US Ryder Cup team.
Olazabal also told that he talked to David Lynn, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Alvaro Quiros and Padraig Harrington and told them the reasons why they were not selected in the team.
According to him, the decision was really difficult to make and he picked the best players who can contribute well at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois.
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