Ryder Cup 2018: Europe can’t compete on quality alone, which explains why Thomas Bjorn has back experience
The debatable selection of Sergio Garcia saw Bjorn overlook in-form Rafa Cabrera-Bello but with five rookies already in the European side he had little other choice
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If the golfing world feels a bit like it is split between the young pretenders and the old favourites these days, Thomas Bjorn’s wildcard selections will not have done much to alter that mood.
With Tiger Woods’ resurgence overshadowing the emerging superstars like Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth this season, it was always going to be interesting to see what the captains did with their picks, especially given the contrasting compositions of their automatically-selected teams.
For Europe and Bjorn, the eight automatic berths were filled by five rookies – Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Noren and Thorbjorn Olesen – plus Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari. With the unique environment of the Ryder Cup, Bjorn had been advised by those closest to him that he should side with experience when it came to his picks, owing to the double benefit of helping younger players and being able to rely on veterans not to lose their heads.
The only counter to that sound logic, of course, is that Sergio Garcia’s inclusion appears to punish players who are playing far better golf than the Spaniard. Garcia has played better than public perception since his Masters win but has still missed the cut in eight of his last 11 tournaments. He is not in form and has roughly two weeks to find some.
Fellow Spaniard Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who is currently ahead of Garcia in the world rankings and scored two-and-a-half out of a possible three points in his only Ryder Cup appearance two years ago, can feel particularly disappointed to have just missed out on playing at Le Golf National at the end of the month.
And what must Cabrera-Bello have been thinking as he saw Rose, a former Ryder Cup teammate of his, publicly implore Bjorn to go with experience over young bucks like himself and Matt Wallace of England?
“Thomas already has five rookies in the side and that is going to be a big factor,” Rose said earlier this week. “We also had five at Hazeltine and that proved too many, and that is something Thomas is going to have to weigh up.”
After weighing it up, Bjorn went with the veterans in Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter. The last of that list was always likely to be included, a golfer who is almost exclusively lauded for his matchplay abilities and that knack for coming up big in crucial Ryder Cup moments. He will drive the crowd and Stenson and Garcia will shepherd Europe’s young rookies, while American captain Jim Furyk has the opposite situation.
For Furyk, the captain’s picks have been an opportunity to experiment but in the end Tiger gave him very little choice. Woods’ inclusion is great news for everyone involved in the Ryder Cup and sponsors, organisers, television companies and the rest of their ilk will be overjoyed to have golf’s biggest name in for this intercontinental showdown. Phil Mickelson will be alongside him for some reminiscing, some mentoring of the US’ young stars and, probably, some promotion of their $10m one-on-one clash in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving weekend.
Bryson DeChambeau, the Trump-loving, science-obsessed 25-year-old, is the Americans’ only rookie wild card pick so far with the final spot announced on Monday. DeChambeau’s inclusion doubled the rookie tally for the USA after Justin Thomas earned his first ever Ryder Cup appearance via ranking.
The rest of Furyk’s team are household names and it does indeed represent a pretty horrifying proposition for the Europeans, who might be at home but will be heavy underdogs. America has the top three players in the world rankings and nine of the top 20. On quality alone, Europe can’t compete.
But perhaps that is why Bjorn did what he did. In his wild card picks alone he has 20 Ryder Cup appearances, more than all of the US’ automatic picks combined. Europe have gone for steady hands to guide their rising stars while America have gone for fireworks. The line-ups are nearly set. The Ryder Cup is almost here. Which captain chose the right path will ultimately be decided on the course.
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