European Ryder Cup - Who will make the team?

If the Ryder Cup team was selected today, European Captain Jose Marie Olazabel would have a few big decisions to make. 

The automatic selections would be as follows; 

Rory McIlroy

Peter Hanson

Martin Kaymer

Justin Rose

Paul Lawrie

Luke Donald

Lee Westwood

Graeme McDowell

Sergio Garcia

& Gonzalez Fernandez-Castano.

That looks like a pretty strong side with only one rookie (Fernandez-Castano) and 6 of the 10 with either major wins or experience as World No 1 to their names (or both in the case of Kaymer & McIlroy). 

But who would be the two Captains picks? There are some big Ryder Cup names missing out - Ian Poulter, Padraig Harrington, Thomas Bjorn the Molinari's and Miguel Angel-Jiminez? As well as Open Champion Darren Clarke.

Not to mention other less experienced players, who probably have a bit more form - Robert Rock, Michael Hoey, Simon Dyson, Nicholas Colsearts & Alvaro Quiros (all winners in the last year).

My personal feeling is that the picks would be from the list of 'bigger names'. Poulter would be a shoe in given he is a match-play specialist and Olly would have to make a decision based on form of other experienced guys towards the end of the season.

Also - we have to consider that the 10 automatic places will change before selection is due. Guys will now really start to focus on selection and build their schedule around getting enough points - even if that means playing more often than they would like. Probably Fernandez-Castano will struggle to stay in contention and also Garcia got most of his points right at the start of qualifying and hasn't really been in contention much in 2012. Rose & Kaymer likewise.

I would expect Poulter to 'get it done' somewhere and get enough points and it is inevitable that someone will find a bit of form over the summer and get a win to seal the deal. 

However - whatever the outcome it seems likely that we will only have 1 or 2 Rookies and a real nucleus of the team who have big wins and play mainly in America (which will rob the opposition of one aspect of home advantage). 

So what of the American's? Well without going into too much detail, it seems almost certain that they will have a more experienced side than last time. In the summer last year, Darren Clarke had just become the 5th non-American major winner in succession and post moretm's were being written about American golf & 'life after Tiger' etc. They have now won 2 Major's in a row (Bradley at the PGA & Watson at the Masters) and Matt Kuchar has just wrestled the Players Championship from an international field who had won 5 in a row at Sawgrass. 

No doubt the big names like Tiger & Mickelson will feature (no matter their form) but they will still have a strong team - even if they have 3 or 4 rookies (as they usually do).

Roll on September and expect to now be bombarded with points updates and Ryder Cup slanted interviews during all Golf coverage for the next few months. Excellent!