Sport | Golf
Casey a victim of flawed system
No 8 player fails to gain a Ryder Cup spot
- By Mark Reason, The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2010
- Published: 00:00 September 1, 2010
Colin Montgomerie will not say so, but he is going to have to beat America without his full first team. The European Tour is so determined to protect its business interests that it is prepared to put losing the Ryder Cup through on expenses.
It may not yet come to that. Europe still have a formidable team, but it is not the strongest ever, as it once looked certain to be. A selection system that determines that five of the 12 players must come from the European points list means that Paul Casey, the world No 8, and Justin Rose, ranked 23rd, will be watching on their televisions in America.
Both had chosen to play on the US Tour rather than the European Tour. Pro Luke Donald said: "It's probably one of the craziest selections for a Ryder Cup ever. Guys in the top 10 didn't know if they were going to be playing. Our team has to look harder at the qualification system."
He said that golf is becoming a world game and 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 no matter what. And they shouldn't be penalised for that.
Selection process
"I felt bad for the guys who didn't make it. I think especially for Paul. He's No 8 in the world, finished second at the Open, nearly top 10 at the PGA, great match play record, to see him left off the team, it was disappointing.
"Perhaps the European Tour have to look at the selection process. I know if Europe win, it's very beneficial for the European Tour both in image and financially. So I think it's in their best interests that they have the best players on the team."
Donald's brother Christian caddies for Casey, but this is more than fraternal feeling. Donald has won a World Cup with Casey and was unbeaten with him at the 1999 Walker Cup.
He knows what a good match player he is. How on earth did the European Tour get itself in a position where Montgomerie felt he had to humiliate the world No 8?
The answer is business. To make sure that most of its top players compete regularly in Europe, the Tour weights its qualification process. Peter McEvoy, the United Kingdom's most successful captain, has selected around 40 teams for England and Great Britain and Ireland.
He says: "The best way is for the captain to pick the whole team as we do in amateur golf.
"I can't think of another sport where you qualify in this way. Imagine if the All Blacks decided to pick their fly-half according to their success rate at goal and some bloke from Otago kicked 90 per cent and Dan Carter was on 88 per cent. It's not a direct comparison, but you get the point.
Greatest asset
"But if I was a business, as the European Tour is, I would be using my greatest asset, the Ryder Cup, to promote my other tournaments. So from a business point of view they are doing the right thing."
Montgomerie's dilemma would have never existed in the amateur game because he would have picked all five.
McEvoy sympathises, but says he would have selected Casey: "He's in good form, he's been in two finals in Arizona, he has won the World Matchplay, he's been very good at the Ryder Cup, he won two English Amateurs, was 100 per cent brilliant at the Walker Cup — he's a matchplay animal. He may well have been the No 1 in my Ryder Cup team.
"The irritation is that all five should have been in the side. It's the business of sport versus the purity of sport. We amateurs can sit here complacently."
Well, maybe not all amateurs. Casey's father is a team manager for the English Golf Union and his thoughts will be far from complacent. He will be hurting for his son.
The Americans may not have beaten Casey junior, but the system certainly did.
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