As the bi-annual Ryder Cup heads to Gleneagles later this month, one player who will not be teeing it up in Scotland is former World Number 1, Luke Donald. In this article, I take a look at the team European captain Paul McGinley has selected to defend the trophy and propose that Luke Donald should have been included in the line up.
This time around, Paul McGinley was given 3 captain’s picks, with automatic qualifiers coming from the World Points list and the European Order of Merit. So the 9 men who qualified automatically were:
1). Rory McIlroy
2). Henrik Stenson
3). Victor Dubuisson
4). Jamie Donaldson
5). Sergio Garcia
6). Justin Rose
7). Martin Kaymer
8). Thomas Bjorn
9). Graeme McDowell
Not many would argue with that team featuring 4 out of the top 5 in the current World Rankings. To complete the team, McGinley had his choice of all other European players and selected Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Stephen Gallacher.
The selection of Poulter was a given. He is one of those rare individuals who, the greater the pressure, the better the response. He loves the man v man theatre of match play competition as opposed to playing the field in a stroke play tournament. Give him Match Play any day and then sprinkle on a Europe v America topping and Ian Poulter comes alive, and most importantly the Americans don’t like playing him in those circumstances.
Lee Westwood is closing in on the record of Sir Nick Faldo for points won in the Ryder Cup, however, he has not had his greatest season and his record in his last couple of Ryder Cups has not been great either. What he does have is experience and, although perhaps not as visibly emotional as a Ian Poulter, when Westwood speaks the team will listen–a future Team Europe captain for sure.
Stephen Gallacher, the son of a former Ryder Cup captain, knows exactly what this competition is all about. Gallacher has had an impressive European season with particular emphasis on the last tournament in Italy. When he had to perform he found something special, however his performance in America has not been great. What he does give though is a Scottish player to the Scottish Ryder Cup, and the crowd will be pumped for him.
There are some obvious pairings for the four-balls and foursomes. Rory McIlroy is nailed on to team up with his best mate Graeme McDowell. The Irish team Mc, have a good record together and will be confident. I also expect Ian Poulter and his best friend Justin Rose to team up once more, as both men have an iron will not to be beaten and will believe they can beat any American pairing. I think the experienced Thomas Bjorn will act as a mentor to Victor Dubuisson, Westwood likewise with the Celtic representatives Donaldson and Gallacher. Also, Sergio and Martin Kaymer could team up for a European flavour.
So that is the team. What could Luke Donald have brought to the table? First of all, every Ryder Cup that has featured Luke Donald has been won by Team Europe. Luke is a steady, calm presence who has shown he can handle the pressure. It was Donald who led Europe on the final day at Medinah to get the Miracle at Medinah underway when he shot down Bubba Watson to get the momentum on the scoreboard to the team in Blue.
Donald and Garcia have also shown that they are one of the best pairings in the tournament history. Together they bring the best out of each other. Luke calms down the excitable Garcia and Sergio brings a little flair to Donald, and together they are very rarely beaten–I believe they have only lost a single match together.
Obviously it is captain McGinley’s pick and by all accounts Donald took the news he was not playing in a classy fashion, with ‘Go Europe’ message. What I would have liked is for Westwood to be asked to be a vice captain where he can still have that influence in the team room, and Donald in the playing team. I feel that would have been stronger and I feel the American team would rather not face Donald than Westwood or Gallacher based on this season.
That is just my opinion though and I respect that we will all have our own thoughts.
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