Paul Azinger announced this morning his selections for the Ryder Cup team and appears to be happy about one thing -- that he gets four choices and not two.
The American captain had the rule changed earlier this year allowing him more power over the final four spots, presumably to include more golfers playing solid golf right now as opposed to players that accumulated a lot of points at some juncture in the season but idled off with the Cup approaching.
The biggest surprise was Chad Campbell, a member of three Ryder Cup teams but never much of a stone thrower. Campbell has a weak record (1-3-2) in the Cup but has been tearing it up as of late on tour and obviously got the nod because of that.
Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker and J.B. Holmes are also on the team, which means at least one player on the American squad will be sporting a black golf glove.
The two big snubs, if you want to call it that, were Scott Verplank and D.J. Trahan. A lot of people thought Trahan would be on the team but a final round 80 yesterday at the Deutsche Bank Championship might have done him in. Trahan won earlier this season and looked to be playing fairly solid before a missed cut last week and a four-putt on his first hole yesterday from 10-feet. That double bogey coupled with a double on his last hole of the day might have shown Azinger everything he needed to know about the Clemson star's nerves under pressure.
The Americans will be taking the court at Valhalla without a single player with a winning record at the Cup and six rookies. If you like underdog stories, you better dive right in to this American team. A win would be truly extraordinary.
2 comments:
The record for most points by a team is 23.5 (by the US in 1967). Do the Euros have a shot at that record?
I think it's going to be a lot closer than people think. A Tiger-less squad could be just what we need to pull off another Brookline.
I was hoping Woody Austin would make the team. They guy would do anything to help his team win.
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