After Knox’s gamble, it’s time for Europe to ditch Ryder Cup wild-cards
THE controversy over Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup decisions has sharpened my view that it’s time for Europe to scrap wild-cards.
Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters were the three lucky recipients. Russell Knox was the one left disappointed.
The qualifying methods we now have with a European and a World points list are the best barometers of finding the 12 best players over the last 12 months.
I never enjoyed wild-cards when I was captain. But 20 years ago, they were necessary because only money earned in European events counted towards the Ryder Cup.
That meant I twice had to pick Sir Nick Faldo and Jose Maria Olazabal, as they played a lot of their golf on the PGA Tour.
That is no longer the case for our top players.
If there were no wild-cards and it was a combination of six players from both lists, the three other players to complement the nine who did make it for Hazeltine would have been Knox, Pieters and Soren Kjeldsen.
There is always a concern about having too many rookies but if they are the best players over the 12-month qualifying period, they merit their places. That is a fact.
I do feel for Knox and it’s a shame for Scotland. But there was no way Clarke could overlook Pieters. Finishing fourth, second and first in his last three events was too hard to ignore.
The Belgian forced Clarke to pick him, similar to Edoardo Molinari’s late run in 2010 when he was chosen by Colin Montgomerie.
To shoot a 62 alongside Clarke on day one, and then win the Made in Denmark event on the final day, suggested Pieters is a player of growing stature.
The one regret Knox will have is that he chose not to play in the Wyndham Championship, especially after Clarke personally asked him to change his schedule.
Russell obviously felt that he’d done enough to merit a pick after winning the Travelers Championship at the start of August.
But unless you secure one of the automatic spots, you are never fully guaranteed a place.
The fact there were five rookies who did qualify automatically didn’t help him either, while he would not have expected Pieters to have such a spectacular finish.
Knox took a gamble that no-one would do that but it backfired.
But I still think he deserved a place. Not instead of Pieters but at the expense of Kaymer.
Darren was adamant about Martin being a two-time Major winner and holing the winning putt at Medinah in 2012 but a player with those credentials should have qualified by right.
The German has had a lot of top-10s this year without ever looking like winning, and has not been the same player since he blew a 10-shot lead in Abu Dhabi in January, 2015.
On the other hand, Knox has been red-hot over the qualifying period. Two tournament victories are huge.
I have no qualms with the choice of Westwood. At 43, you expect his form to be patchy but he played well at The Masters when it mattered.
One of the dangers with wildcards is selecting people on past reputation as the Ryder Cup is a difficult arena to find your form, as Ian Poulter showed at Gleneagles.
I did that with Seve Ballesteros in 1993. I had to pick Seve, but his game was slightly off. I possibly did him no favours by exposing him to that pressure.
Seve even asked me not to pick him for an afternoon fourball match. That was a watershed moment for his career.
I know my view is in the minority. But wild-cards do provide plenty of talking points – and next week it’s the Americans’ turn.