September 4th, 2010 by PGA Golf Art

Colin Montgomerie had five great candidates to fill only three available spots as captain’s picks for Team Europe in the Ryder Cup, and today Monty made those hard choices. The results:

• In: Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Edoardo Molinari
• Out: Paul Casey, Justin Rose

The announcement came about an hour after the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship, where Edoardo Molinari finished birdie-birdie-birdie to come from two strokes behind and win.

Montogmerie also announced the addition of Sergio Garcia as a vice captain, joining Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn and Paul McGinley as Monty’s assistants. Garcia, not a candidate to make the team as a player coming off a poor season, asked for another role with the team, and Monty gave it to him.

The three captain’s selections join nine automatic qualifiers (w-qualified via the World Points List; e-qualified via the European Point List):

Lee Westwood-w
Rory McIlroy-w
Martin Kaymer-w
Graeme McDowell-w
Ian Poulter-e
Ross Fisher-e
Francesco Molinari-e
Miguel Angel Jimenez-e
Peter Hanson-e

Westwood is still recovering from a calf injury and is not guaranteed to be ready in time for the Ryder Cup. Should Westwood be unable to play, Monty said Justin Rose would be the replacement.

Corey Pavin’s four captain’s selections for Team USA will be announced on Sept. 7.

Monty Selects Harrington, Donald, Molinari for Ryder Cup originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, August 29th, 2010 at 13:36:14.

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September 3rd, 2010 by PGA Golf Art

We’ve written a couple times about the tough choices facing Colin Montgomerie for the European Ryder Cup team. Captain Monty needs to add three players to the team, but has five strong candidates for those three spots.He has to make those picks on Sunday at the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship.

And things are only getting tougher for Montgomerie. Edoardo Molinari is in second place at the Johnnie Walker after three rounds, trailing only his brother, Francesco (who has already automatically qualified for Team Europe). Edoardo and Francesco teamed to win the World Cup last year for Italy. Edoardo is ranked No. 21 in the world rankings, one spot higher than Justin Rose. Edoardo guaranteed Monty this week that if Montgomerie chooses him, the Molinari brothers will go 4-0 in foursomes and fourballs at the Ryder Cup.

Can Monty leave Edoardo off the team if he wins the Johnnie Walker? If he finishes second?

The other four candidates for the three captain’s picks are Rose, Padraig Harrington (ranked 18), Luke Donald (10) and Paul Casey (9). Those four are all playing The Barclays and, so far, doing pretty good.

Rose shot 65 in today’s third round to vault up the leaderboard. Monty’s selections will be made on Sunday around the time the leaders in The Barclays are teeing off. What if Monty left Rose off the team, then Rose won The Barclays? But among the five - Edoardo Molinari, Rose, Harrington, Donald, Casey - which two get left out? As it stands now, I’d pick Molinari, Rose and Harrington. Which would mean bypassing two Top 10 players.

There are a lot of prominent people in European golf today who are glad they aren’t in Montgomerie’s shoes.

The Golf Channel will televise Monty’s announcement of his captain’s selections on Sunday following the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship.

Johnnie Walker Championship leaderboard
The Barclays leaderboard

Monty’s Decisions Only Getting Tougher originally appeared on About.com Golf on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 16:51:53.

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