The Road to the Ryder Cup 2014

Rikand · 24-02-2014 10:46pm #1

Thought I'd make a separate thread for this rather than filling up the PGA tour thread

Link to the points list :: http://www.rydercup.com/europe/2014/team/european-ryder-cup-points-list

With Victor Dubuisson finishing runner up in the Matchplay, it has moved him right into prime position to make the Ryder Cup Team and I think we're all very glad of that given his performance this week. But what about the rest of the team ?

If the Ryder Cup was starting tomorrow, the 9 players who would be in place are ::

Henrik STENSON
Sergio GARCIA
Victor DUBUISSON
Thomas BJÖRN
Ian POULTER
Rory MCILROY
Jamie DONALDSON
Justin ROSE
Joost LUITEN

Which wouldn't be terrible.

What do people think of that team ? Who would you rather see in there instead of some of those players ? Who would be your Captains Picks if that was the team ?

Would Harri be one of them ?????

love to hear peoples thoughts, lets get a good auld discussion going on

dar_cool · 24-02-2014 10:47pm

Gmac not in the top 9?

Rikand · 24-02-2014 10:49pm

dar_cool wrote: »

Gmac not in the top 9?

Not right now

17th on the European Order of Merit
14th on the World Points List

but he only started playing golf again 2 weeks ago after being off for about 3 months

dar_cool · 24-02-2014 10:50pm

Say he will defo get a spot after his heroics last week

FixdePitchmark · 24-02-2014 10:53pm

Very hard to see Westwood - Donald - McDowell not in team,

Looks like the full downfall of Kaymer could be completed , if he does not get the finger out.

I'd say Molinari will make the team on his own form.

Keano · 24-02-2014 11:41pm

Westwood will be touch and go! He would want to really pull his socks up

BubbaM · 24-02-2014 11:49pm

McDowell is ranked 15th in the world and at this moment won't make the team outright which seems a bit odd. He'd be one of my first picks if it was based on picks alone!

PARlance · 25-02-2014 2:05am

Rikand wrote: »

If the Ryder Cup was starting tomorrow, the 9 players who would be in place are ::

Henrik STENSON
Sergio GARCIA
Victor DUBUISSON
Thomas BJÖRN
Ian POULTER
Rory MCILROY
Jamie DONALDSON
Justin ROSE
Joost LUITEN

Which wouldn't be terrible.

What do people think of that team ? Who would you rather see in there instead of some of those players ? Who would be your Captains Picks if that was the team ?

Wouldn't be too unhappy with that team at all, if I was to pick 3 they would be:

Gmac GMAC
Francesco MOLINARI
Paul LAWRIE

Lawrie might raise a few eyebrows, but I think a Scot in the team is almost a must have, and of all the Scots, I would have most faith in him. He doesn't strike me as the William Wallace type but I think it would be a big plus on the motivational side of things. It would seem a bit "flat" without a home home player.
He delivered last time around in the singles too and my team would be missing a lot of experienced Ryder Cuppers so he would play a part there too.

If I had the chance to mess around with the 9 above, I think I would be looking to drop LUITEN and DONALDSON in favour of 2 from below:

Mannassro - for young blood and a potenital RCup leader in the making, also could pair well with fellow Italian Molinari
Fleetwood or Ilonen - Both playing well, Fleetwood may appease the English crowd, Ilonen is a player I like and has proven well able to handle match play, he's also hitting some form this year.
Fleetwood would get the nod by some bit at present.

There are plenty more out there that I would consider, a few Spaniards could make an entire reserve list alone.

For the likes of Westwood, Donald and Jiminez... sorry lads, you've been great, but it's time to move on and I wouldn't even consider them if they failed to make the top 9 spots.

Kaymer would need a great year and he may rally.

Colsaerts... I forget what he looks like.

charlieIRL · 25-02-2014 10:26am

Forgive me on this one, but I don't think Dubuisson deserves an automatic place on the team just because he has had one good run in an matchplay event.
Its the first time I've ever seen him play one and I'd like to think that the players in an event, like the Ryder Cup, are in top form but experienced matchplay players. How do we know he could handle the pressure after one matchplay?

mike12 · 25-02-2014 10:31am

Think Jamie DONALDSON and Joost LUITEN are 2 that could loose out as the summer goes on. Gmac will make it on form as will Mannesaro i think. Lots of cash to be won before the team is picked though.

Poker Face · 25-02-2014 10:35am

charlieIRL wrote: »

Forgive me on this one, but I don't think Dubuisson deserves an automatic place on the team just because he has had one good run in an matchplay event.
Its the first time I've ever seen him play one and I'd like to think that the players in an event, like the Ryder Cup, are in top form but experienced matchplay players. How do we know he could handle the pressure after one matchplay?

He is not getting in team just on last week. He has been doing very well since November .. 4 top 5 finishes in his last 5 starts.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/players/playerid=34151/index.html

Skylined.94 · 25-02-2014 11:03am

mike12 wrote: »

Think Jamie DONALDSON and Joost LUITEN are 2 that could loose out as the summer goes on. Gmac will make it on form as will Mannesaro i think. Lots of cash to be won before the team is picked though.

Agreed Gmac and Mannesaro will be there but also think Luiten will surprise us as the season goes on.

Rikand · 25-02-2014 11:22am

charlieIRL wrote: »

Forgive me on this one, but I don't think Dubuisson deserves an automatic place on the team just because he has had one good run in an matchplay event.
Its the first time I've ever seen him play one and I'd like to think that the players in an event, like the Ryder Cup, are in top form but experienced matchplay players. How do we know he could handle the pressure after one matchplay?

he said in an interview after beating gmac and when questioned about how much matchplay he has played....

in France as an amateur there are a lot of matchplay competitions and that he has played in matchplay competitions all around the world....

sure you might say Rory mcilroy is young and hasn't played much matchplay.... But he won the west of Ireland 3 times aswell as all the other championships! No doubt about but Victor would have huge matchplay experience in high pressure situations against top quality golfers

Slicemeister · 25-02-2014 11:27am

If McGinley could keep away from the Sky Studios he'd be doing himself a big favour.
Too many bullets being dodged with mundane diplomatic replies to all questions.

Not his fault, just the nature of the beast he's sat down with.

FixdePitchmark · 25-02-2014 11:39am

Slicemeister wrote: »

If McGinley could keep away from the Sky Studios he'd be doing himself a big favour.
Too many bullets being dodged with mundane diplomatic replies to all questions.

Not his fault, just the nature of the beast he's sat down with.

That is a good point. Should he be there at all.

charlieIRL · 25-02-2014 11:39am

Poker Face wrote: »

He is not getting in team just on last week. He has been doing very well since November .. 4 top 5 finishes in his last 5 starts.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/players/playerid=34151/index.html

That's great form, but great form won't win a matchplay event all the time. How many players were over par but still won their match last weekend?

I'm not doubting that he's a great player and hopefully will be for the future (its refreshing to have a different name at the top of the leaderboard) I'm just concerned that all the hype after this event is a bit premature. Sure time will tell.

Slicemeister · 25-02-2014 11:56am

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

That is a good point. Should he be there at all.

I honestly think its a ticking time bomb, he's going to incriminate himself at some stage.
Especially with Livingston in the seat.

FixdePitchmark · 25-02-2014 12:04pm

Slicemeister wrote: »

I honestly think its a ticking time bomb, he's going to incriminate himself at some stage.
Especially with Livingston in the seat.

I agree he is good, Livingston - you can see what he is at, but he tries to back them into a corner.

There will be a stage where Paul is too close to making his picks to be on it. We are nearly only 6 months out.

"Paul wasn't that an awful shot choice by Westwood - his form has really fallen off since his major problems ? "

"Paul - that putting has slipped a bit for Ian - since that Miracle at Medinah "

Paul is well able for that stuff - but the show is live, that is a big part of the problem - he has no editorial control.

RikkFlair · 25-02-2014 12:35pm

Westwood needs a big summer, I think throwing away the Open last year has knocked the stuffing out of him (as seen on his Twitter rant). I feel he'll get a pick though if he's on the fringe of the team. I'd say Donald will get there in the end as will Gmac. Poulter is high up on both lists so any bit of consistency from now until August and McGinley won't need to pick him.

Mad to think Bjorn has only made 2 RC teams, most of his wins have come in the non-Ryder Cup years of qualification.

I'll go for 3 rookies, Dubuisson, Luiten and Steven Gallacher

PARlance · 25-02-2014 12:37pm

charlieIRL wrote: »

That's great form, but great form won't win a matchplay event all the time. How many players were over par but still won their match last weekend?

I'm not doubting that he's a great player and hopefully will be for the future (its refreshing to have a different name at the top of the leaderboard) I'm just concerned that all the hype after this event is a bit premature. Sure time will tell.

But what else is to go on, he has been in form (he held off a very strong field that included Tiger challenging him at the Turkish Airlines in Nov) and dealt with the pressure well.
He has played the only match play event he could and has done fantastic.

What more can he do?

He may not win, he may not deal with the pressure, he may be a flash in the pan but at present he's at the top of my list as he is doing all that he can do and doing it very very well.

It's a shame he wasn't playing in the Royal Trophy, anyone know why he wasn't in the mix for that, in hindsight, it would have been a great experience and would have been a good chance for McGingly to have a up close look at him...

Did his form come to late for that?

paulos53 · 25-02-2014 12:57pm

PARlance wrote: »

It's a shame he wasn't playing in the Royal Trophy, anyone know why he wasn't in the mix for that, in hindsight, it would have been a great experience and would have been a good chance for McGingly to have a up close look at him...

Did his form come to late for that?

He is playing in the new EurAsia cup next month. Most of that team are on the fringes of the Ryder cup team so no doubt McGinley will be keeping an eye on how the pairings work out.

Rikand · 04-03-2014 12:03pm

Has the world points list been updated after the Honda Classic ? It says updated 3/2/14 which is the 2nd of March, but I dont know if that includes the Honda as that finished in the early hours of the morning.

The US points system has updated on the 3/3/14, after completion of the Honda.

Trying to figure out if the points Luke Donald would have gained are included or not

http://www.rydercup.com/europe/2014/team/european-ryder-cup-points-list

AGC · 04-03-2014 1:33pm

The team as it stands I think would be well beaten.

A few need to get their skates on to strengthen it up.

Russman · 04-03-2014 2:31pm

You'd have to think the likes of McDowell will play his way on (possibly Donald too) and Donaldson & Luiten probably won't hang in there. Who knows though.

It should be quite a media circus though in August because there's probably going to be at least 2 or 3 big names will miss out. If I had to call it now, I'd say Westwood won't play his way on, won't get a pick and Sky Sports will be most unhappy

! I'd give Donald a pick for his short game and he's a ready made partner for Sergio.

Can't really see any of that bunch of Fleetwood, Willett, Horsey, Pepperell etc playing their way on though.

Arsenium · 04-03-2014 5:40pm

Paul Casey. If he could start tournaments the way he's been finishing them he should shoot up the rankings. Experience there too.

Rikand · 04-03-2014 7:39pm

What would people think of Ross Fisher after his win at the weekend ? He has moved himself well up the list on both the world points and european points list.

Also a former world matchplay winner!

Russman · 04-03-2014 8:00pm

Rikand wrote: »

What would people think of Ross Fisher after his win at the weekend ? He has moved himself well up the list on both the world points and european points list.

Also a former world matchplay winner!

Probably a decent shout, but he'll need to get into the big events. Can't really see him getting a pick, and there's not a lot of difference between him and 5 or 6 other upper to mid level players (if you know what I mean).

Rikand · 10-03-2014 11:21am

http://www.rydercup.com/europe/2014/team/european-ryder-cup-points-list

Donaldson now in prime position to get into the team. Can't see him tanking it from here, so a few more decent tournies should see him home. If he doesnt get in on the European List, He'll surely get in on the World Points list.

Stephen Gallagher has now jumped Justin Rose as well. There's the Scottish player in the side that everyone is looking for!

Dr. Bre · 10-03-2014 12:53pm

still think Bjorn bottles it. not what ya want in a ryder cup

Rikand · 10-03-2014 5:37pm

Dr. Bre wrote: »

still think Bjorn bottles it. not what ya want in a ryder cup

i don't think he'll make it tbh. Too much strength gaining ground on him in the rankings

Russman · 10-03-2014 7:24pm

Rikand wrote: »

i don't think he'll make it tbh. Too much strength gaining ground on him in the rankings

He has a good head start though. It'll be touch and go.

Haven't checked the odds yet, and its early days, but at the moment its hard to see anything other than a pretty comprehensive USA win unfortunately. Unless some of our big names pull the finger out in the next few months.

The Road to the Ryder Cup 2014

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