Mcginley to announce wild cards a day later
Thursday 24 OcTOber 2013 sHRewd Paul McGinley has moved to avoid one of the pitfalls that befell Colin Montgomerie as european Ryder Cup captain by pushing back the announcement of his two wildcard selections by 24 hours.
It will now take place at wentworth on Tuesday, 2 september, to allow the Irishman to take in events on the final day of the deutsche Bank Championship, the second of the four tournaments in next year’s Fedex Cup Play-Off series on the Us PGA Tour.
“with no actual qualification points counting in the deutsche Bank Championship, I was initially prepared to make my wild-card announcement on the Monday – the day after the final counting event, the 2014 Italian Open,” said McGinley.
“But I have had a rethink and I now want to delay 24 hours as I realise that some potential members of the team might well be playing in Boston that week.
“Realistically, I think it will have minimal effect but, out of respect for any players involved, I want to allow them to finish that tournament before I call them with news, one way or another.”
Montgomerie didn’t have that luxury when he handed the three wild cards at his disposal for the 2010 match in wales to Padraig Harrington, Luke donald and edoardo Molinari. The announcement was made almost straight after the conclusion of the Johnnie walker Championship at Gleneagles. That meant Montgomerie having to try to contact the likes of Justin Rose and Paul Casey to tell them they had missed out as they were playing in the Fedex Cup Play-Offs.
As a direct result of that, the scot’s successor, Jose Maria Olazabal, pushed his wild-card announcements for last year’s match at Medinah back to the Monday after the Perthshire event but, sensibly, McGinley has given himself a further 24 hours due to the deutsche Bank Championship having a Monday finish.
It means that both wild-card announcements will now be made on the same day, with Us captain Tom watson also revealing his three selections on 2 september at a venue still to be announced.
wentworth has been chosen for McGinley’s announcement due to the fact that the surrey venue hosted the match between Great Britain and the United states in 1926 that paved the way for the first Ryder Cup to take place a year later at the worcester Country Club in Massachusetts. It was also where Gleneagles was awarded the 2014 match back in 2001.
“I’m delighted that the announcement is going to be at wentworth Club, an iconic venue in the world of golf and one also with a rich history in terms of the Ryder Cup itself,” added McGinley.