Monday 27 August 2012

A Winning Team?: Profiling the European Ryder Cup team

With today's announcement that Ian Poulter and Nicolas Colsaerts are to get the two wildcard slots for the European Ryder Cup team, the complete line-up is now known for the side that will take on their American counterparts.

The action is little over a month away from starting on the 28th September in Medinah,Chicago.

Here I'll take a look at those 12 men captain Jose Maria Olazabal will be hoping can keep the Ryder Cup on European soil for another two years.

Rory McIlroy: The only European to currently hold a Major title after winning the PGA championship by an incredible eight shots a fortnight ago.

McIlroy suffered a mid-season wobble when he failed to challenge at either the US Open or The Open, but showed his quality at the PGA.

In my opinion, the Northern Irishman is far and away the best golfer in the world when at the top of his game.

Having performed well at the 2010 Ryder Cup, he will be one of Team Europe's key men.

Graeme McDowell: Expect McDowell or G-Mac as he is affectionately known to be paired up with McIlroy, his fellow countryman over the first two days of competition.

McDowell has been tremendous this year in the Majors, finishing no worse than 12th place across all four, whilst coming so close to winning a second US Open at the Olympic Club in June.

He was of course the man who holed the winning putt at Celtic Manor in 2010. I wonder what price there is on him doing so again?

Ian Poulter: The Englishman will be one of Europe's talismen in Chicago in what will be his fourth Ryder Cup appearance.

His passion for the Ryder Cup holds no bounds and having contributed three points out of a possible four last time out and four out of five in 2008, his record is extremely enviable.

With top ten finishes at both the PGA and The Open, Poulter is bang in form and it would have been ridiculous if he was left out of the side.

Lee Westwood: Current World Number Four Westwood will be the most experienced member of Team Europe in a month's time, with this years event marking his eight straight appearance in the team.

There can be no doubting Westwood's talents despite the fact he's still to win a Major.

He's one of the world's best from tee to green but it's often the putter that lets him down.

He is also badly out of form having missed the cut at the PGA championship but I expect him to revel in his position as Europe's leader on the course.

Paul Lawrie: The oldest member of the European team as well as being the only Scot to make it to Chicago.

Yesterday he won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles which was a welcome return to form in a season which has seen the 1999 Open champion enjoy a superb comeback.

It might be 13 years since Lawrie last played in the Ryder Cup, but he has been around for too long to late that faze him too much.

He's a real steady influence to have in the dressing room over the weekend.

Luke Donald: The world number two has never lost a Ryder Cup having been victorious in 2004,2006 and 2010.

Donald's remarkable putting will be such an asset to the Europeans and could well dig out a few more points than expected over the three days.

Whilst another Major has passed Donald by this season, he has been in fine form all year and at The Barclays last night finished in a tie for 10th.

He also finished in the top five at The Open as well as winning the Transitions championship in March and finishing sixth at the Players Championship.

A partnership with fellow Englishman Westwood could and should prove very fruitful.

Justin Rose: The Englishman is the most under-rated golfer in the world. For someone ranked eighth in the world and somebody who has performed well most weeks this season, he doesn't get enough praise.

A superb win at the World Golf Championship Cadillac event in March has been followed up with top 10s at the Masters and the PGA championship.

He also has top 10s at the Bridgestone Invitational, the BMW Championship and French Open to speak of, leaving him second in the European Tour's Race To Dubai.

Rose formed a superb partnership with Poulter two years ago and is widely expected to do so again.

Sergio Garcia: What a delight it is to see the Spaniard make the team. Whilst his presence was a brilliant inspiration to Europe in 2010, it should have been as a player, not as a vice-captain.

The way he won in America last week was superb to watch and he followed it up last night with a tied third finish at the Barclays.

He will be absolutely fired up to play by his countryman Olazabal and I fancy him to be Team Europe's top point scorer over the weekend.

His likeability is so wide-ranging that he could form a successful partnership with any other team member.

Francesco Molinari: The Italian is one of the best ball-strikers in the game, something which will come in handy on the lengthy Medinah course.

He might not be able to call on his brother Eduardo for support this time, but the Italian will be perfectly fine if his 2012 form is anything to go by.

He is coming into form nicely with a sixth place finish at Gleneagles this week, which followed up second place finishes at the French and Scottish Opens in July.

He might be used more sparingly by Olazabal compared to others but there can be no doubting his passion will be to the fore when he is called upon.

Peter Hanson: If Rose is the most under-rated golfer in the world then Hanson isn't far behind him.

The Swede has been magnificent this season and after helping the Europeans to victory last time out, he will be chomping at the bit to do so again.

He led the Masters going into the final round in April, before finishing a creditable third, which followed up previous top fives at the Cadillac championship and the Qatar Masters.

Most recently he finished seventh at the PGA Championship which once again showed Hanson is more than capable of dealing with American courses.

Martin Kaymer: Europe's weakest player and he gets that 'award' by quite some distance.

It is utterly remarkable to think that the German can now be viewed as a poor player having held the World Number One ranking for eight weeks during 2011.

In 2010, he was one of Europe's key players going into the Ryder Cup having just won his first major title at the PGA Championship.

Now there is talk of him only being played in the singles given how bad his form is.

He had a reasonable start to 2012 with top 15 finishes in Qatar and Dubai but since then he has only mustered one top ten finish which was way back in April at Malaysia.

Kaymer has been nowhere near to challenging at any of the Majors and most recently shot two dismal rounds of 79 in missing the cut at the PGA Championship.

A real worry for Jose Maria Olazabal ahead of the 28th September.

Nicolas Colsaerts: The only rookie on the European Ryder Cup team also makes history by becoming the first Belgian golfer to represent Europe in the event.

Getting the nod ahead of Padraig Harrington, Colsaerts selection will inevitably come under scrutiny.

So why has he been chosen? Well his ball striking is absolutely fantastic and whenever I've seen him recently he looks absolutely fearless.

He also just happened to win the Volvo Matchplay Championship in May, which is quite a handy thing to be good at in the Ryder Cup.

With a top ten finish at the Open under his belt as well as finishing tied 7th last week at the Wyndham Championship, the Belgian is more than worthy of his pick.


The twelve men that have made it onto Team Europe represent a very strong line-up indeed.

But with America boasting a host of top stars themselves who are keen to get the trophy back, all of the dozen players will need to be at their very best over the Atlantic.

I can hardly wait.

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