How many Irish men will make the Ryder Cup team?

THE new format for the selection of the European Ryder Cup team for the upcoming matches in Paris next September has a lot of people confused but its not that difficult to comprehend.

The twelve-man team will be made up of the four leading players on the European Points list, the four leading players on the World points list and then four “Wild Card” selections who will be selected by the European Captain Thomas Bjorn.

At the time of writing (Monday), the four leading players on the European points list were : Justin Rose, Tyrell Hatton, Ross Fisher & Matthew Fitzpatrick.

While all of these four players are also ranked in the top seven of the World points table, the top four from this (excluding the four) would see John Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy also selected to the team if it was selected this week.

So what are the chances of other Irish players joining McIlroy in Paris ?

Paul Dunne and Shane Lowry are ranked seventh and eight on the European points table with Padraig Harrington the next best at 34th while on the World points table Dunne is 10th and Lowry is 14th with Harrington 59th.

Realistically, you cannot see Harrington making the team for Paris unless there’s a huge upturn in his fortunes on the course and as he will celebrate his 47th birthday just two weeks before the match against the Americans, I cannot see Bjorn giving him a wild card slot, despite his impressive record in this event.

Dunne and Lowry both look like they might play their way on to the team and if they don’t, then they will of course be hoping to get the nod from Bjorn.

However, it could well depend on how many rookies will qualify for the team and as neither have played Ryder Cup before, Bjorn may or may not select either or both, but time will tell.