The European Tour might be taking a few weeks off from having its own events, but that doesn’t mean The Eurozone has to follow suit. In fact, this hiatus, which started this week in absence of the cancelled event in the Philippines (more on this at the end), and runs through The Masters, gives me a chance to take a deep dive on our new Ryder Cup stock-watch. In this two-part introduction, we explore some permutations that are going to make Captain Thomas Bjørn’s primary task of forming his final roster much more difficult.
Hailing from Denmark, the world’s happiest nation, Captain Thomas Bjørn: definitely 100% #fuqs. (Photo Cred: Today’s Golfer)
This crop of Euros is perhaps the deepest we’ve seen…ever. With several veterans already locked in, and a few rookies that have cemented a slot, it’s a good time to take an early-season gander down the points list and start prognosticating the final roster. In my opinion, the most compelling storylines are those among the potential rookies. In order to get there, however, we need to look back at how the 2016 first-timers fared, briefly overview the new points qualification standards, and pencil-in the studs we are already quite sure will be heading to Paris.
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2016 European Rookie Recap
The 2016 European squad featured one of the least-inspiring rookie classes in recent memory. No offense to Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan, and (the artist formerly known as) Danny Willett, but the good results shown by these players early in their points qualification cycles did not continue throughout the immediate lead-up to Hazeltine. Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Thomas Pieters notwithstanding, the rookies for Darren Clarke’s team, in the limited action they saw, looked mostly outclassed at every turn.
Nonetheless, Clarke tried to hide the rookies (other than Pieters) as much as he could on Friday and Saturday, sending out Willett, Sullivan, Wood, Fitzpatrick, and RCB in only seven of the sixteen team matches, where they combined for an abysmal 2-4-1, alleviated only by Rafa’s solid play. This same group went 1-4 in the Sunday singles, with–you guessed it–the Notorious RCB grabbing the only point.
If Willett’s health and game weren’t bad enough heading to Hazeltine, his brother made sure Danny wouldn’t be able to slide under the radar by trashing the USA Team in the lead-up. (Photo Cred: Golf Digest)
Pieters, on the other hand, was the only rookie to play all five sessions. After a 5 & 4 drubbing with Lee Westwood (who went 0-3-0 overall, whoops) at the hands of Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar, Clarke re-paired Pieters with Rory McIlroy, and the duo combined for scorched-earth 3-0 in their remaining 3 matches. Pieters summoned a 3 & 2 victory over J.B. Holmes on Sunday, and managed to produce a team-best 4-1-0 record in his first Ryder Cup. But, as will be highlighted in Part II, Pieters is anything but a surefire bet to make this year’s team.
Points Qualification Standards
This explainer will answer any questions beyond the summary provided here. The Europeans have shifted to a system that is weighted more heavily toward the last few months and weeks leading up to the 2018 matches, in an effort to capture the players in the best form at the time. Their system also factors Rolex Series Events more heavily to encourage players with dual memberships on both the European and US PGA Tours to participate in these national opens in Europe. In fact, there will be no Ryder Cup qualification points to gain for the Europeans from tournaments played elsewhere during the same weeks as these events.
The 12-man European Team for The 2018 Ryder Cup will comprise the first four players from the European Points List, followed by the leading four players from the World Points List and completed by four wild cards. Further, Ryder Cup qualification points (both Race to Dubai Points and World Points) will be multiplied by 1.5 for tournaments later in the qualification process. The starting point for this will be the BMW PGA Championship in 2018.
Because it is still quite early in the season, the current points standings are a good starting point, but are subject to violent changes as the season moves into the major championships and Rolex Series events. (P.S. – the points list link in the previous sentence defaults to USA; click “switch to Team Europe” in the upper right corner, and tab between the European Points list and the World Points list to see how both shake out currently).
The European Points Standings (Left) and World Points Standings (Right), current as of 3/17/2018.
Now that we’ve established where we are coming from, let’s look at where we are headed.
Veteran Locks:
If the matches started today, the following five gentlemen with previous Ryder Cup experience would be virtually guaranteed a spot:
Justin Rose – @JustinRose99
Age: 37 Current European Points ranking: #2 Current World Points ranking: #1 OWGR: #5 Prior Appearances: 4 – 2008, 2012 (w), 2014 (w), 2016 Record: 11-6-2
Making the case: Rose is a stone cold lock. He finds himself on the very short list of pros that have had a mind-boggling level of consistency in the past year since his near miss at The Masters in 2017–among his 2018 teammates, perhaps only Rahm compares. Rose won back-to-back weeks in late 2017 at the WGC HSBC Champions and the Turkish Airlines Open. Although he failed to bring his best stuff for the final round of the Valspar, it appears he is going to be in stellar form for Augusta, where it’s safe to say he’ll contend again this year on a track well-suited for his game. Rose can go ahead and book his flight to Paris.
Rose showing off the hardware from last year’s Turkish Airlines Open. (Photo Cred: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Sergio García – @TheSergioGarcia
Age: 38 Current European Points ranking: #13 Current World Points ranking: #5 OWGR: #9 Prior Appearances: 8 – 1999, 2002 (w), 2004 (w), 2006 (w), 2008, 2012 (w), 2014 (w), 2016 Record: 19-11-7
Making the case: Sergio has never been in a better place in his career, both personally and professionally, than he is right now. Since his win at The Masters in 2017, Sergio got married, became a father, and notched another win in his home country at the Andalucía Masters. An off-season equipment manufacturer change to Callaway proved a fine choice, as El Niño kicked off 2018 with a win in Singapore on the Asian Tour.
García sits quite comfortably at #5 in the World Points ranking, and #13 in the Euro Points ranking. Defending at Augusta will probably be tough, unless he serves up some stanky paella at the Masters Club dinner to put the Big Cat and Phil out of commission. Even if we presume that a life change like fatherhood slows him down a bit this year on the golf course, and he tumbles a bit in the rankings, there’s no way Bjørn leaves his experience and flair off the team.
#Bringbackthebeard (Photo Cred: Golf Digest)
Rory McIlroy – @McIlroyRory
Age: 28 Current European Points ranking: #15 Current World Points ranking: #11 OWGR: #13 Prior Appearances: 4 – 2010 (w), 2012 (w), 2014 (w), 2016 Record: 9-6-4
Making the case: Kyle Porter tried to get cheeky on his most recent appearance on the NLU Pod, throwing out Rory as potential Captain’s pick. We’re going to assume that Rory will figure it out to the tune of multiple wins this year as he continues to shake off the rust in this early run. Rors is a generational talent that has shown the ability to “find it” and go on absurd runs of great golf. So far this week at the Arnold Palmer, Rory is off to a solid start and looks to be heading in the right direction. Even in the unlikely event it comes down to a wild card choice, Bjørn would be rightly facing pitchforks and torches if he leav
Source: https://nolayingup.com/blog/the-eurozone-7-ryder-cup-watch-part-i