Dubai: Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn says he’ll have a difficult job selecting his team of 12 for Paris in September if the performances of his players so far this year are anything to go by.
His comments follow a mid-month win in the EurAsia Cup in Malaysia, after which 10 of his 12 from that event went on to finish Top-20 in Abu Dhabi last week, led by winner Tommy Fleetwood.
Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm, two others who were not on Bjorn’s Malaysia roster, also won in Singapore and California respectively at the weekend, while Rory McIlroy returned from injury to finish tied for third in the UAE capital — adding to Bjorn’s problem of plenty.
“When you wake up on a Monday morning and Sergio has won in Singapore, Tommy has won in Abu Dhabi and Jon has won on the PGA Tour, you can’t help but think European golf is in very good hands right now,” he said ahead of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club this week from Thursday to Sunday.
“Then you have 10 guys finishing top-20 in Abu Dhabi, that’s a strong performance, they used the EurAsia Cup well. It gives me a lot of belief that we are in a good place.
“Most likely it won’t be those 12,” he said of his Malaysia select’s Ryder Cup chances. “There will be a couple of others that will have a few words to say about that.
“It will be a difficult team to make. It really will, because you have to play some really good stuff from now on to make that team.”
Asked if he was already drawing up a potential 12, he replied: “You can’t make up your mind about anything, because things change.
“You know as well as I do the golfing world moves and it goes like a yo-yo; people go up and people go down, and where it leaves us at that time we’ll see. But where we are right now, I feel like there are a lot of good things to build on for a lot of these players.”
Bjorn didn’t want to write off the US offensive however. “There are some great players, but then you look at what 12 you’ve got to be up against and American golf is also in great hands at the moment.
“There are six or seven Americans who will have something to say. They are also very special players.”
Former European Ryder Cup winning captain Colin Montgomerie, who is also playing in Dubai this week, said: “I tell you what, that will be a game on in France. It will be very, very interesting to see how we go there.”
The 2010 winning captain said three newcomers; Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Rahm; plus one returnee in Paul Casey, all of whom didn’t play in Europe’s last Ryder Cup defeat under past captain Darren Clarke, would now prove pivotal.
“Those four players will be a huge asset to Thomas, that Darren (Clarke) didn’t have last time.
“Two years in sport is a long time and it’s moved on greatly. The likes of Fleetwood, Hatton and Rahm have appeared from nowhere onto this world stage, and Casey, thank goodness, has rejoined the Tour, because he’s always been a world class player.”
