I see that (to huge surprise – not!) captain Thomas Bjorn did not heed my advice re omitting Sergio Garcia from the European team for the Ryder Cup match at the end of this month. But I still don’t get his reasoning. If Sergio is such a huge deal in the team room, and I can readily believe that he is, why not have him there in a non-playing capacity? It seems Bjorn felt the five rookies he’d got already were enough so the fast-charging Matt Wallace, a three-time winner this season, could not be considered for a wild card. The fact that there were five rookies on the losing European team at Hazeltine two years ago was cited by some as supporting evidence.
The captain then, Darren Clarke, gave wild cards to Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood on account of their Ryder Cup experience. Out of the seven points they contested, they delivered one. Thomas Pieters, a rookie, won four from five. Rafa Cabrera Bello, a rookie, played in three matches and came up with two wins and a half. They would not have been rookies this time and both have been playing far better than Garcia in 2018. Oh well, we shall see soon enough.
Anyhow, I’m on holiday this week, but with thoughts of golf in France in mind, here’s a photo of the 17th hole at Vidauban in Provence…
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