Sam Torrance: European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn is facing his day of reckoning
Thomas Bjorn is facing a tricky time as his plans for the European Ryder Cup team begin to solidify. This week’s Made In Denmark tournament is the last event that counts towards qualification; a few days after that, Bjorn will name his four captain’s picks.
He will consider the assets of all the potential candidates, both on the course and off it, as he weighs up who to select. He will look at who is suited to fourballs, foursomes, partnerships and who will fit in well in the team room.
Bjorn will have stats coming out of his ears but in the end it’s a feeling. I expect Thomas will already know who he wants to pick, his four names pencilled in unless someone else puts in a last-minute performance that forces them into the picture.
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The hardest part of the job is telling those players who might have hoped for a captain’s pick that they haven’t made it.
When I was captain for the 2002 Ryder Cup, the last of my two wild cards was between Jose Maria Olazabal and Jesper Parnevik. We actually chose the teams a year earlier, when the contest had been due to take place, only for the 9/11 atrocities to cause a postponement.
Parnevik had won in the United States in 2001, while Olazabal had been driving terribly. On the other hand I had played several Ryder Cups alongside Olazabal, I love the man, and no one would give you more.
Ultimately I went with Parnevik, but following Olazabal off the course at the last counting event and into the locker room to tell him that he wouldn’t be playing broke my heart.
Bjorn's captain's pick options
Bjorn’s eight likely automatic qualifiers – Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren and Thorbjorn Olesen – look good.
There are five rookies in there – Hatton, Fleetwood, Rahm, Noren and Olesen – but they are very strong rookies. And the fact that it is being held in France at a course they all know means the rookie factor is less significant than if they had been playing in the US.
Of the contenders for Bjorn’s captain’s picks, I think Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and probably Rafa Cabrera Bello are near certainties.
Poulter has been very close to an automatic place and his Ryder Cup pedigree makes him an essential choice, while Casey has also been up there this year and has the experience that makes him the right man for the job.
Poulter has bags of Ryder Cup pedigree on his CV (Source: Getty)
Cabrera Bello has shown form too and was a great rookie at Hazeltine two years ago, scoring two and a half points from his three matches.
Beyond them are out-of-form stalwarts like Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Martin Kaymer; Englishmen Eddie Pepperell and Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Thomas Pieters.
I like Pieters a lot but he had another chance to shine at the Czech Masters last week and didn’t take it. He also played great as a rookie last time, winning four points from five matches. He is sparking but needs to relax and let it ignite to put himself at the forefront of Bjorn’s thoughts.
DeChambeau captures Furyk's attention
DeChambeau won the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs (Source: Getty)
US captain Jim Furyk will surely choose Bryson DeChambeau as one of his picks after his win at the Northern Trust on Sunday.
DeChambeau is a unique golfer but a very impressive one and he was clinical and comfortable at this, the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
At the Czech Masters there was another first-time European Tour winner in 29-year-old Italian Andrea Pavan.
Perhaps spurred on by his fellow countryman Francesco Molinari’s recent Major breakthrough at The Open, Pavan beat Padraig Harrington down the stretch with an amazing finish.