Ryder Cup aperitif
We are less than a month away from the Ryder Cup at la National ,Paris and the Made in Denmark competition made the selection issues clearer. Thorbjen Olesen gained the last eighth spot ( Justin Rose, Joe Rahm, Francisco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Alex Noren, Tyrell Hatton , Rory McIlroy are the other automatics) so who will Thoma Bjorn select this Wednesday afternoon when he will announce his three captain picks? I reckon Matt Wallace who won a 4 way play off at the Made in Denmark and is the man in form ( as well as netting me a couple of hundred sovs at 33-1 ) , Henrik Stensen and Ian Poulter. This leaves one more with Tom Pieters, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sergio Garcia , Rafa Cabrera Bello, Eddie Pepperell all in contention though I think Paul Casey will be the lucky one . One contender who always seem to be omitted is Russell Knox. Consistent on the USPGA tour and winner of the Scottish Open he has the pedigree. It’s so difficult to know if an in form rookie can hack it against the Americans in matchplay or better the seasoned battle scarred Ryder veteran . I am an advocate of form remembering how well Tom Pieters played last time.
The Americans ? Their eight guaranreed are Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth, Webb Simpson, Ricky Fowler Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson . Bryson deChambeau will surely be selected and I expect Tiger Woods , Matt Kuchar and Kevin Kisner to make up the numbers . No Phil Mickelson who has been out of form since playing hockey on the green of the US Open.
Personally I would have chosen the cheerful Parisien Alex Levy for his course knowledge and to get the local crowd out and going and Zach Johnson as his game is well suited to the lay out I’m not predicting anything till I see the teams but it should be close. Captain Bjorn will be pleased to see Justin Rose and Tyrell Hatton in contention at the Dell Technologies event.
