European wild card debate
Who would have thought that at the start of September when qualifying for the 2010 European Ryder Cup team began, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, and Justin Rose would need wild card picks to make it onto the team. Harrington is a three-time major winner, Donald is 10th on the world ranking list, and Rose has two wins on the PGA Tour this season.
What is more distressing is that none of these players are returning to Gleneagles for the Johnny Walker Championship, the last qualifying event for European players. Instead they have decided to remain in the U.S. to take part in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
As lucrative as it is, the FedEx Cup events do not count towards the European Ryder Cup points standings. Captain Colin Montgomerie is eating his words; a while back he said wouldn’t select anyone for a wild card if they didn’t contend at the Johnny Walker. Now three of his better wild card potentials are sitting the JW championship out, he might have to reconsider his earlier statement. There are three more weeks before Montgomerie has to make his decision.
Edoardo Molinari, an Italian golfer, is contending for Montgomerie’s attention. Molinari is ranked 21st in the world and was partnered with brother Francisco, who shared the lead with Bubba Watson after the first round at the PGA Championship and is expected to be on the team, in a winning partnership at the World Cup.
Sergio Garcia would have been a shoe-in, and could still be called back from his self-imposed vacation from golf if Montgomerie decides he wants the Spaniard on the team. It has been rumoured that Montgomerie was thinking of pairing Garcia with his compatriot Alvaro Quiros, as well as German’s Martin Kaymer, winner of the PGA Championship, with Bernhard Langer, winner of the last two Senior Opens. Alas, these are only speculations until September 7th when Monty announces his decision.
Montgomerie will be using his wild card picks to spice up the team, instead of giving it to players who failed to qualify. The European team selection process is based on the first four players from the World ranking system and the first five players on the European Tour money list. The top four names found on both of these lists just so happens to be the same people: Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, and Graeme McDowell.
What this means is that the next five players on the European Tour money list will be added, which unfortunately is made up of weaker players than the next five of the world rankings. If the five players were selected from the world rankings instead of the Euro money list, Harrington, Donald and Rose would make the cut. Since this would shape up to be a very strong team it is puzzling why they don’t just do this. It would also mean that Montgomerie could focus on who else he would include, instead of who he would be forced to leave off the team.
Montgomerie had asked that European players wanting a Ryder Cup position participate in more European Tour events, such as the Johnny Walker Championship. Because the European Ryder Cup team is determined by the strongest players on both the world rankings and European Tour rankings, if European player participated in more of their home country’s events there would be a stronger Ryder Cup team.
Alas, Montgomerie’s request has fallen on deaf ears. So what has the captain decided to do about this? He has made it clear that he will look favourably on those players who play in key European Tour events, and will follow through with his decision no matter how unpopular it is.
Tags: