The Ryder Cup wildcard names announced on Tuesday by rival captains Tom Watson and Paul McGinley were almost on expected lines.
McGinley chose to go with Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Stephen Gallacher, while Watson handed spots to Hunter Mahan, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson.
There were remarkable similarities in the decisions the captains had to make. Very clearly, the last few tournaments had sealed the spots for Gallacher and Mahan. I don’t think Poulter and Bradley could have been overlooked because of what they did at Medinah and the passion they show for the biennial contest. Which left them to make one contentious decision each.
For McGinley, it was a toss-up between Westwood and Luke Donald for the third spot, while for Watson, the choice was more widespread with Simpson, Chris Kirk, Bill Haas and Brandt Snedeker in the frame.
Snedeker missed the cut in the first two FedEx Cup Playoff events, and that would have surely hurt his chances. Kirk won the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday, while Haas has also hit decent form recently.
However, Watson decided to go with the 2012 US Open champion Simpson, which I thought was a good move. Haas, despite the fact that he is a past FedEx Cup champion, does not have a very good matchplay record, and while Kirk was outstanding last week, he is yet to prove his mettle on the Tour with consistency.
McGinley’s decision must have been a lot tougher. It must have been really close between Westwood and Donald. Both are former world No 1s, and both have very good Ryder Cup record. If Donald has a fantastic short game, Westy’s long game is exceptional.
In the end, McGinley decided to go with the man who has shown better recent form, and with rounds of 63 at WGC-Bridgestone and 65 at PGA Championship, the balance tilted in Westwood’s favour.
Looking at the full teams, Europe certainly has the edge and look stronger and more in-form on paper. The Americans will have to fight on several fronts, including playing in front of partisan crowd, the absence of some of their big-name players and the fact that they are on a losing spree at the moment.
On the European Tour this week, we are at the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland, which is, without doubt, the most spectacular golf course we play all year. There have been several changes made to the layout the last couple of years, and the players love everything happening on and off the course this week.
— Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour
