Luke Donald investigates Monty’s Picks
Even though he has been chosen as a wildcard, Luke Donald wants to dig deep down into the mysterious workings of Captain Colin Montgomerie’s mind. Normally, if someone was selected for such an honor, that person would just forget the whole criteria and selection process - your in and that’s all that matters right? Well thats not the case for Donald.
On Sunday September 29th, Montgomerie announced his final three wildcard picks. Where Donald, Padraig Harrington and Edoardo Molinari were chosen, one eminent player did not make the cut. Yes, the famous Paul Casey. Being really important in the past few Ryder cups, Casey would have surely been disappointed and somewhat shocked to find out that he didn’t make the cut. Along with Casey, World number 23 Justin Rose did not make the team either. Apparently both Rose's wins in the United States this season did not impress Montgomerie.
Luke Donald said that the European tour needs to look harder at the system. "I understand they want to protect the European Tour but at the same time the top guys are going to want to play against the best players in the world and you shouldn't be penalized for that.” said Donald.
Either the Ryder cup world points or the Ryder cup European points list determines whether the golfers are taken as a wildcard pick or not. The best four from the world list and the best five from the European list qualify as a matter of course. The three remaining are the captain’s choice and hence are known as the captain’s wildcards.
People have debate on whether this system inclines too much towards Europe tournaments and how players perform in Europe. For instance- Donald, Casey and Rose, played more often at the PGA tour in the United States than any tournaments taking place in Europe. And even though they are amazing players, just because they did not score a lot of points in the ‘list’, they could be at the risk of not being chosen. And that is exactly what happened with Casey and Rose. Along with Harrington, these players opted to play at the Barclay’s tournament instead of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. Now if they were play in Scotland, they would automatically be attempting to qualify.
Some say that not picking Casey was unfair since he is a remarkable player. However, when Casey was asked he said that this might be due to a rib injury which caused him to not play any golf for three months. He said that being injured stopped him for qualifying but he is always ready to support the team. He is disappointed with the fact that he is not on the team but he thinks that the team is unbelievable and he wishes them luck.
Casey elevated from ninth to eighth in the world courtesy of a 12th place finish on Sunday and he also landed 12th place in the USPGA championship. He finished third in the open championship and that’s not all. Casey won at Wentworth and the last two finals in Arizona - A performance that was truly applause worthy.
According to Donald, it’s been a very crazy selection and a tough choice between himself and Casey. Luke Donald himself has fallen to number 11 because of a wrist surgery due to which he missed the last match. Justin Rose thinks that the only person he can blame for not being selected for the Ryder cup is himself. Rose has played three Ryder cups - losing his debut game and winning the other two. He was very passionate about the cup and said that once you play in the Ryder cup, you always want to go again. He does however think that many people wouldn’t have gone for the three picks that Montgomerie chose.
But what’s done is done. These picks are final and Captain Montgomerie’s team is ready for the Ryder Cup. Now all eyes are on Captain Corey Pavin who will announce his team on September seventh. Now fans have to wait till October when the cup starts, and watch how the golfers tee off and then decide whether Monty chose wisely or not.
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