I don't think it really mattered that much who captain Zach Johnson selected as his six picks late last night. With the European squad in a rebuild, the US team is stacked, again with much the same squad that hammered the Euros 19-9 in 2021.
However not being a spoil sport, the underdog role is what has fueled Europe forever, and will give this years spectacle in Rome the edge it needs to be the best 3 days in golf, some say in sports.
Rickie Fowler
Automatics
Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Schauffele
Picks
Sam Burns, Fowler, Koepka, Morikawa, Spieth, Thomas
*(Clark, Harman. Burns and Homa Ryder Cup rookies)
Team Europe
The European Team allows 3 players from the World Points list and 3 from the European Points list
Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy are in from the top 2 places on European Points list while Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton the top 2 on the World Points list.
Tommy Fleetwood has the 3rd spot on the World list and Robert MacIntyre the 3rd on the European list going into this week's play in Switzerland, where 7 players technically have a chance for the final 2 spots, before captain Luke Donald makes his 6 captain's picks, September 4th.
History
Since 1985 Europe has won 12 of the 18 Cups, their glory years were 1995-2014 where they dominated 8 /11 matches with the likes of Seve, Sergio, Olazábal, Rory, Poults, Westwood, Monty, Faldo, etal
The US has won 2 of the last three, with this current team, and the thinking is the tide has turned with them.
However Europe has 4 of the top 100 ranked players, Rory, Rahm, Hovland and Fitzpatrick the US the other 6 with Scheffler at #1.
Also worth noting is the US Team plays every year together adding the Presidents Cup, while the Europeans only play together bi-annually for what it's worth. Max Homa is an example of an American Ryder Cup rookie who will benefit his 4-0-0 record at the last Presidents Cup.
Bryan Angus
No comments:
Post a Comment