Ryder hopefuls swing into Wales to answer Monty’s call
Colin Montgomerie, captain of the home side, takes his place in the field for an event offering just over €2 million in prize money and a fairly decent number of his team candidates will also be in action.
Monty sent out an earnest request some time ago to his top players to take part this week so as to acquaint themselves with a layout that not too many have previously played.
Only Oliver Wilson and Graeme McDowell of the 2008 side have entered and disappointingly, the minor knee operation Pádraig Harrington underwent last week means that he has had to withdraw while Rory McIlroy is back in the US for the prestigious Memorial tournament starting at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Muirfield Village on Thursday.
However, Monty will be gratified at the presence of a large number of contenders, not least the Chicago-based Luke Donald who makes the event the last of three successive tournaments on this side of the world. Excellent performances in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, where he came second followed by victory in Madrid at the weekend have moved him within touching distance of an automatic place in the Ryder Cup. Donald missed the 2008 match in Kentucky because of a wrist injury but another top-five finish in Wales will virtually clinch his place.
Others with their sights set on a spot in the team and are teeing it up on the banks of the River Usk are Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Ross Fisher, Martin Kaymer, Ross McGowan, Alvaro Quiroz, Oliver Wilson, Craig Wood and the Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo. Interestingly, Thomas Bjorn and Paul McGinley, two likely lieutenants of Monty’s in October, are also in the field.
While some will see McGinley’s ongoing ambition to be a member of the side as a little fanciful considering he is currently nowhere in the rankings, he has been showing constantly improved form as he returns from major knee surgery late last year.
Graeme McDowell looks like a man gradually finding his best golf. A fourth place finish in Madrid has helped his Ryder Cup team chances and apart from this week in Wales, he also has the huge boost of having qualified for both the US and British Opens thanks to remaining in the world’s top 50 after the BMW PGA Championship.
Like Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke is also hopeful of finding a run of form that might put him in contention and it would obviously help if he kick started things with a useful performance at the match venue. The other Irish in the field are Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin, Simon Thornton and Gary Murphy.
Meanwhile, the Memorial tournament sees the return of Tiger Woods to competitive action. Between all the hullabaloo about his private life, parting company with coach Hank Haney and coping with a painful neck and shoulder, Woods’ campaign so far has been very much of the start-stop variety. It all means that his great rival, Phil Mickelson, who is also in the Memorial field, is close to usurping him as the world’s number one golfer.
The tournament affords Rory McIlroy not only the opportunity to build on his remarkable victory in the recent Quail Hollow Championship on the PGA Tour but also to renew acquaintance with Nicklaus, with whom he enjoyed a well-publicised lunch during the Honda Classic in Florida last March.
“It was great to sit down one on one with Jack and talk about his approach to winning and see what went through his head when he was in contention,” said McIlroy later. “One of the biggest things I took from it was patience and it was probably the best 90 minutes I’ve spent in a long time.”
In spite of that, McIlroy didn’t click until Quail Hollow last month but his closing 62 there for a four shot victory has made him one of the hottest properties in American golf. That in turn will impose extra pressure on Rory’s 21-year-old shoulders this week and it will be fascinating to see how he responds.
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