Name Your Team USA Ryder Cup Squad

[ChrisP]

Interesting to see how few (if any) of you are picking Tiger

I'm not picking him because I think his injury is more serious than people think and the earliest he will return is the PGA---if that. If he doesn't do well at the PGA (and I don't think he will), he won't have a chance to play in the playoffs and I don't think Watson picks him.

[FarawayFairways]

I'm sure you're right Chris, and I'm increasingly detecting that Tom's realising this too. What he doesn't need (and nor does America) is a debilitating will he, won't he, circus running into the build up. I understand Tom's in a tight spot as he can't make a premature decision and hope to escape censure if Woods were to produce even a half convincing result from somewhere, but I do feel America would be better served by a definitive early decision whereby Tom says these are my men, etc and this our focus, now lets get the hell on with it

[SteveBamford]

Current standings: 6 Furyk, 7 Dufner 8 Reed 9 Kirk -- 10 Mickelson 11 Zach 12 English 13 Todd 14 Na 15 Moore

Notables outside: 16 Simpson 18 Fowler 19 Woodland 21 Bradley 22 Holmes 27 Haas 29 Mahan

With Woods looking like the injury might take him out of the equation, Tom looks like he may well be blooding some Ryder Cup rookies. 3 Majors and a WGC to go, but some big names need to find some form this summer.

[ChrisP]

Reed and Kirk at 8 and 9? Blech. Do not want those two. Need guys like Phil and Zach to get it going here and bump those two guys out.

[SteveBamford]

Some huge moves as you'd expect after the US Open. Fowler now into the automatic spots in 7, with Dufner and Reed now rounding off the Top 9. Mickelson, Kirk, Zach and English next up.  Keegan up 4 spots into 17th.

Looks like Tiger's return won't be too far off as well. Going to be a fascinating few weeks building up through The Open and PGA.

[skydog]

I may have to cheer for Europe if Patrick Reed is on our team...

Not really, but seriously, Phil, ZJ, Webb, and Harris English need to all step it up so that guy isn't representing our country.

[ChrisP]

I may have to cheer for Europe if Patrick Reed is on our team...

Not really, but seriously, Phil, ZJ, Webb, and Harris English need to all step it up so that guy isn't representing our country.

As much as I hate Reed, I have more love for US and will root for him (god it hurts to say that).

If G-Mac can pull out a win in Ireland, that should give him a big boost in making the Euro Team. This might be the most impressive Euro Ryder Cup team yet with Kaymer, McIlroy and Stenson leading the way.

[SteveBamford]

The European team already looks impressive on paper; but there will be chinks in the armour.  G-Mac not playing well up till now and we can add Poulter, Westwood and Donald to that list.  Could be a case of them peaking for later in the season; that's if they all make the team.

[FarawayFairways]

One tactic Europe has used in the past (particularly Jacklin) was to pair same nationality players and generate mini teams within teams. When ever this has been tried, the Europeans had a winning record by nationality except for Irish pairings!!! (mind you, I never profiled for those for north and south!). Spanish pairings have a fantastic record.

With Stenson and Garcia likely starters, I do wonder if they might look at Blixt and Jiminez with a preference for the former

Mollinari has a very good Gleneagles record, albeit I think that's been on the Kings Course?

The Centenary course is the longest inland course in Scotland and that might be a factor yet . Colsearts would be interesting as a mercurial type in a fourball, or perhaps paired with Donald in a foursome

McGinlay needs to be a little bit sensitive to giving McDowell a reputational pick I reckon, and especially if he brings Padraig into the fold as another assistant alongside Des Smyth as is being mooted. This could turn into an Irish love in if they aren't careful, albeit if Darren Clarke has aspirations to captain at Hazeltine you'd have thought he'd be on the management team somewhere too

I'm not totally convinced that McDowell is playing unless he can force his way into the team on merit.

I think the one they must dread slightly is some journeyman doing a Van de Velde at the Open and suddenly gatecrashing the party

Europe's developing an interesting balance though of streaky mercurial players and steady fairway hitters.

McIlroy, Dubisson & Garcia are capable of hitting hot streaks (as would be Poulter if selected) then you've got mechnical sorts like Stenson, Kaymer, Rose and Donald to balance them

[Chilli Dipper]

The Open Championship didn't do much to develop a clearer picture of who will make the American Ryder Cup squad. Rickie Fowler and Jim Furyk were the only two Americans to finish inside the top ten at Hoylake, and they went into the Open in the seventh and sixth qualifying positions, respectively. The official post-championship standings haven't been released yet, but Fowler and Furyk will move up to third and fourth in points, changing their status from "probably safe" to "locks." Matt Kuchar, who will fall from fourth to seventh in the standings, has 4764.065 points, over 1200 more than Jason Dufner in eighth; that large of a gap (over $1.2 million in regular earnings) all but ensures that the current top seven in the standings will qualify automatically for the team.

Locks

Bubba Watson

Jimmy Walker

Rickie Fowler

Jim Furyk

Dustin Johnson

Jordan Spieth

Matt Kuchar

Bubble (in AQ position)

Jason Dufner

Zach Johnson

Bubble (outside AQ position)

Patrick Reed

Phil Mickelson

Brendan Todd

Chris Kirk

Ryan Moore

Webb Simpson

Keegan Bradley

Wild Card

Tiger Woods

Dufner is currently in the eighth qualifying position, with 3516.345 points; Zach Johnson, with 3450.894 points, is in the ninth and final slot. The names on the outside of the bubble looking in all have over 3000 points, and are in position to play themselves into one of the two remaining AQ slots over the next three weeks. With the prospect of Woods (who could only make the team automatically by winning both the WGC-Bridgestone and PGA Championship) taking up one of the captain's picks, and nine-time Ryder Cup veteran Mickelson on the bubble, there may only be one captain's pick available on merit for any golfer outside of the top nine. Moore may be in the best form of all of them, having finished T5-T7-T12 in his last three tournaments; but Bradley finished T4 at Greenbrier to match his T4 result at the US Open, and Todd had consecutive top-five finishes at Congressional and Greenbrier.

My prediction: Bradley (1-2 at Bridgestone the last two years, 1-3-19 at the last three PGAs) plays his way into an AQ spot, while Johnson holds onto the other; Woods, Mickelson, and Moore are the captain's picks.

[FarawayFairways]

Think there's an overwhelming logic to your selections there CD. I actually think Keegan will have done himself the power of good turning up for the Watson scouting mission. Imagine how humiliating it would have been for Tom had no one shown? If I were Tom I'd be interpreting Keegan's move not as that of a sychopant but that of someone who wants to play for me, the team, and the country, and that's the kind of person you need when the going gets tough. Do you answer the call of your country, or the call of your bank manager? Credit to Keegan Bradley therefore, and Jim too, who went so far as the describe the RC as the one he wanted above all else (echoing Sergio from earlier in the week when he described the Open as his second favourite event). Now could the likes of Mickelson or Woods says the same? Well they could say, but would they mean it?

For all Europe getting something like 10 of the first 18 home on Sunday though, I'm not so sure they haven't got the bigger issues. As you point out, there is a pretty firm nucleus in the American team emerging, with the blot being this thorny subject of whether or not you pick someone with a 38% record based on his reputation. The American decision might be coming down one player, possibly two, and even then its a question of their reputations against their chronic under-performance. To our eyes at least, it looks like a very easy decision to make, but Tiger doesn't have the hold over us that he seems to have in America, and for that reason perhaps were slightly perplexed as to why you're exercising so much time on it. If Tiger were European, I don't think we'd pick him in the current situation - no - we wouldn't need him in order to win, and if we subsequently lost, it wouldn't be because we failed to select him.

Europe has to be looking at Poulter, Westwood and Donald as three mainstays and asking serious questions

[Wansteadimp]

Europe has to be looking at Poulter, Westwood and Donald as three mainstays and asking serious questions

Donald's in at the moment, McDowell isn't. McGinley has virtually said that Poulter and GMac will get picks.

I'd imagine that it would be very hard not to pick the Scotsman Gallacher at home if he was 10th in the rankings, as he is now.

I think Westwood will probably have to play his way in, or to get very close to the 10th spot if he is to play.

[FarawayFairways]

Don't believe Gallacher's nationality will come into it, but then there is a strong case for selecting him on form, (I figured he might have come close to overtaking Donald by now, but hasn't got there yet, as they've updated the standings now). There'd be a case for Mollinari too who also has a Gleneagles record to point to as well

Where did McGinlay say that McDowell and Poulter were all but selected?. I've seen Torrance say it, but McGinlay seemed to contradict him and has consistently said he'd pick on form. Indeed there seemed to be a serious case of cross wires going on in the European management about 2 weeks ago. Torrance was up at Gleneagles doing an event and speaking to journos about what he'd do and who he would pick. Then about 48 hours later McGinlay seemed to be saying the opposite and told Poulter to pull his finger out

Not entirely sure about Torrance's role either? In that same briefing he was telling journalists what a Sam Torrance would look like and naming players by way of his captains selections, then the next morning he was saying he was "the sweeper in a curling team" and that he was very much "in the background, doing what ever Paul wanted"

[FarawayFairways]

In 1993 Tom chose Floyd and Wadkins

If i recall correctly Floyd was the oldest American player in the cups history, so Tom showed a willingness to break convention with that one. Both players would also be considered combative matchplay sluggers, albeit Wadkins might be more of what we call a gobshite. This was the immediate post Kiawah match too, so if he was under any pressure to select diplomats in the wake of America's behaviour, he didn't kowtow to it, and picked a couple of prickly sorts. It tells me he regarded winning rather than PR as his first priority. It indicates to me perhaps that Tom puts faith in experience, and fighters, rather than technical boxers too.

The thing I think that clouds the issue slightly is that having recently finished playing (you know what I mean) there was a chance that Tom was picking form his own generation, and when he wanted someone to do the hard yards and come back with the bacon, he went to people who he'd grown up competing against, and who he trusted to stand toe to toe and trade

I should perhaps say that his selection of Floyd and Wadkins is often creditted as being one the most inspired in the Cups recent history. Both players paid him back handsomely and I do recall a body of opinion that concluded it was this decision that won America the cup. Now of course he doesn't have anyone with winning experience in Europe to draw on, but having got it right back in 1993, you have to suspect he'll be looking towards players who he thinks 'want it' and I mean really want it, and those who are prepared to stand in the trench and fight, and not run away the first time the heat comes on

The decision to pick Floyd in particular you have interpret as Tom putting greater stock in strength of character. I'm struggling to believe that Ray can have been eleventh on the money list, so Tom must have identified a certain type of person he wanted, and concluded that Floyd had those attributes. Interestingly though, he was prepared to make the tough call and put someone in at an age when conventional wisdom would say don't do it (was there a media clamour for Raymond Floyd?).

If this is evidence of Tom being his own person, and rewarding mental strength and combative instinct, who do we think it would bode well for?

[FarawayFairways]

Thought I'd look it up

Wadkins was 68th on the money-list, and Floyd 120th (from 6 tournaments)

Now that took some balls I'd have thought

[ScouseJohnny]

Name your team USA Ryder Cup squad:

Stewart

Trevino

Irwin

Wadkins

Nicklaus

Casper

Snead

Kite

Watson

Mickelson

Palmer

Floyd

Whoops, mistook the question for one of those "fantasy" "all-time team" questions...

[Chilli Dipper]

Well, this sucks for the USA. Dustin Johnson's out, and that's all that needs to be said here. That drops the number of locks for the team to six players, and bumps the self-proclaimed Top Five Player into AQ position for now. Patrick Reed is currently inside the top ten at Firestone, so he could very well bolster his position in the standings this weekend. Johnson's a huge loss for team USA. He's proven to be a valuable asset in team play in previous competitions, and it's hard to see any player currently in the discussion being able to make up DJ's impact on this team. [quote name="FarawayFairways" url="/t/74556/name-your-team-usa-ryder-cup-squad/30#post_1027173"]Thought I'd look it up Wadkins was 68th on the money-list, and Floyd 120th (from 6 tournaments) Now that took some balls I'd have thought [/quote] Floyd was still ranked in the top 25 of the then-Sony Rankings (now OWGR) in 1993, despite playing a limited schedule on the regular tour.

[ChrisP]

A lot of people aren't going to like the fact Reed is going to be on the team, but they're going to have to live with it. His good play this week is pretty much solidifying his spot. I also think Keegan Bradley is playing himself onto the team....maybe not points-wise, but as a Captain's pick no doubt.