Ryder Cup wildcards: the hopefuls
With a host of top-class players vying for limited places on the European Ryder Cup team, captain Colin Montgomerie announces his wildcard picks on Sunday evening - but who will the Scot opt for?
Seven of the players to represent Europe at Celtic Manor in October are already established; Montgomerie is adamant that his No. 1 player Lee Westwood will have recovered from a calf injury, while Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher have all already qualified.
And Francesco Molinari joined that list yesterday, after Ross McGowan pulled out of the Johnnie Walker Championship with an injury; McGowan was one of only three men who could have forced his way into the automatic qualification standings with a good enough performance at Gleneagles.
Peter Hanson and Miguel Ángel Jiménez currently occupy the final two automatic qualifying positions, though that could still change, with Simon Dyson and Alvaro Quiros both capable of dislodging them if they can perform well enough at this week's Johnnie Walker.
So what of the players who must rely on wildcard picks to secure a trip to Newport in October? Here are the chief hopefuls, all of whom are battling for just three spare places on the team.
Paul Casey
Along with Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose, Casey is one of the so-called FedEx Four. The quartet were dubbed with that tag after opting to remain in the US this week to take part in a play-off for the FedEx Cup this week, rather than journey to Gleneagles in a bid for automatic Ryder Cup qualification.
Ranked ninth in the world, Casey is the highest-ranked player (by a single place over Donald) to require a wildcard; that could be be enough to swing it for the 33-year-old if Montgomerie opts to choose players purely on their supposed world standing.
Monty has used the rankings system to inform his choices in the past; selecting players for the Seve Trophy when he was Great Britain and Ireland captain four years ago, he chose Casey on the basis that he was the highest-ranked player available.
That could be a flawed methodology to employ at the Ryder Cup, though - thanks to the vagaries of the points system, Tiger Woods is still officially the No. 1 player in the world right now, despite failing to win at all this year and, until yesterday's opening round at the Barclays, playing some of the worst golf of his career in recent months. With five players ranged between No. 9 and No. 22 in the world all hoping for inclusion in Montgomerie's team, current form and suitability for the job at hand must be at least as important as world standing.
Casey hasn't won yet this year, but he was third at the Open and finished just outside the top 10 at PGA Championship. He was second to Ian Poulter earlier this year at the WGC Match Play Championship at Arizona, and is yet to lose a fourball in his three appearances at the Ryder Cup, having lost only one singles game - to Tiger Woods.
On current form and past experience, Casey would seem difficult to ignore - the only blot in his copybook being that subdued appearance two years ago, where he made just two halves in three appearances at Valhalla.
Luke Donald
Donald is just a place behind Casey in the world rankings at No. 10, and the Englishman has managed what Casey couldn't this year, a win. Donald was victorious at the Madrid Masters at the end of May, but interestingly he also came third at the Wales Open - held at Celtic Manor, the same venue the Ryder Cup will be hosted at.
Donald has also enjoyed a couple of top-three finishes on the PGA Tour this year too, proving he can mix it up with the Americans, and he has a strong record at the Ryder Cup, playing on the winning side in both 2004 and 2006 and taking four wins from four attempts at the four balls. Donald is clearly another very reliable player to have on the team, and on current form leaving him out wouldn't make a great deal of sense.
Padraig Harrington
Harrington may be on slightly shakier ground than the previous two candidates. The Irishman is yet to win in 2010, and indeed is without a Tour win in two years. He missed the cut at three of the year's four majors, and the fact that he has only played three events in Europe this year speaks of a lack of commitment to the Tour (and by extension, the Ryder Cup?).
More damningly, Harrington's recent record at the Ryder Cup isn't great. His experience may play in his favour, the Dubliner turning out for Europe five times, three on the winning side - but despite appearances in 2006 and 2008, the 38-year-old hasn't won one of his own games since 2004, when he beat Jay Haas in the singles.
Apologists will point to Harrington's three majors, but does past excellence outweigh current, somewhat indifferent form? Harrington himself would hotly dispute that assessment, pointing to 14 top-10 finishes in the past 12 months, but at least in comparison to Casey and Donald, Harrington is the poor relation right now.
There also seems to be some disparity between Harrington's claims a month or so ago that he would be "gutted" to miss out on the Ryder Cup and his choice to remain in the US this week, rather than journey to Perthshire - actions speak louder than words, after all. Montgomerie has to leave somebody out; on his current form, Harrington would make sense.
Justin Rose
Rose is the lowest-ranked of the FedEx Four at 22nd in the world, and any appearance at Gleneagles this week would only have been a show of loyalty, with the chance of automatic qualification beyond him - the Englishman has played both infrequently and indifferently in Europe this year.
But it's been a different story in the States, Rose finally breaking his PGA Tour hoodoo to win twice this year in the space of three tournaments in the summer - an achievement that has pundits talking about him as a possible contender for PGA Tour player of the year. Since that mid-summer madness, Rose has missed the cut at both the Open and the PGA Championship however.
All of which could leave you to conclude that Rose is talented but unreliable - except that representing Europe at the Ryder Cup last time out, the 30-year-old won three points out of four, beating Phil Mickelson in the singles. Rose partnered Poulter in 2008, and as well as being good friends the two are a natural fit on the fairway.
Edoardo Molinari
Ranked one place higher than Rose in the world at 21st, the Italian obviously makes a good team with his brother Francesco - last year, the pair won the World Cup. And Edoardo put in an impressive show at Celtic Manor earlier this year, finishing in fourth place at the Wales Open.
But the 29-year-old has never really impressed at the majors, and Molinari is yet to play in a Ryder Cup. With a team already made up of several uncapped players in Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Francesco Molinari, might Montgomerie be concerned that there is already too much inexperience in the ranks?
Alvaro Quiros
If Quiros fails to make the automatic qualifying places (even outright victory at Gleneagles may not guarantee that, depending on how his countryman Jiménez performs), the Spaniard may seem to have a lesser claim for one of those precious three wildcard spots.
But should Jiménez qualify, that could work in Quiros' favour - might the big-hitting 27-year-old be able to strike up an effective partnership with his laidback fellow countryman? Of course, Quiros wouldn't mind who he partnered; the four-time European Tour winner would just be happy to play some role in the team. Ranked as he is at 47th in the world, at least 20 places lower than the other serious candidates, he has to be an outside choice.
Bernhard Langer
Currently rated 789th in the world, Langer is a wholly unrealistic choice - were it not for Montgomerie singling the veteran German out for praise and revealing he was considering him, after Langer won two senior majors in the space of two weeks earlier this summer.
That's undoubtedly an impressive feat. But with all due respect, does the senior circuit really offer a comparatively rigorous experience to the European or PGA Tour? The 52-year-old may still have the skills on occasion, but Montgomerie's judgement would be heavily questioned were he to offer the long-in-the-tooth Teuton a ticket to Newport.
True, Langer has played on the European team some 10 times in the past, and has captained the team to victory in 2004 - in another, less quality-packed year, perhaps Langer could have been worth more than a nostalgic glance. Not this time though, surely?
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