Molinari the elder staking Ryder claim

EDOARDO MOLINARI is the favourite among those European Tour members who believe at least one of their number should be among Colin Montgomerie’s “wild card” picks for Europe’s Ryder Cup team.

Even if he wins this week at Gleneagles, Molinari won’t make the side but having captured the World Cup late last year in partnership with his brother, Francesco and followed up with a series of highly impressive performances this season, there are those who believe he has an undeniable right to a place in Montgomerie’s team.

Edoardo has been quite outspoken in expressing his claims for a place in the side, but still doesn’t believe he will get a “wild card” pick on Sunday night.

However, there is another way he could sneak in – if he finished first or second at Gleneagles, he would overtake Luke Donald as the fifth place player in the world points list, leaving him next in line should the injury that has kept Lee Westwood out of the game for more than a month persist into the first week of October.

The older of the Molinaris – he is 29 – shot a solid enough two under par 70 in yesterday’s opening round of the Johnnie Walker Championship on a day when Ross McGowan’s withdrawal ensured Molinari’s brother, Francesco, a place on Colin Montgomerie’s team.

He has been relatively outspoken in speaking up his claims for inclusion at Celtic Manor, although yesterday he accepted: “I need to do extremely well this week to get a pick. I played very well today, and hit almost every fairway and green. I’m just trying to play golf and we’ll think about the Ryder Cup on Sunday.”

Dubliner Colin Byrne was as surprised as anyone when Edoardo Molinari asked him to become his caddie two weeks after his win at Loch Lomond. Byrne didn’t hesitate because he was already well aware of the Italian’s potential, believing that he was a star of the near future.

“His real value would be having him play with his brother,” he said. “That’s got to be invincible, brothers worthy of their place. Their camaraderie is hard to beat. Obviously the World Cup is fairly low-grade stuff compared to the pressure of the Ryder Cup, but the fraternity thing would be invaluable. As a golfer he’s well up to it. He has proved his worth, won three times.

“He’s a winner, he knows what he’s doing, a great professional, there’s no stone unturned. He’s the best I’ve seen, he reminds me of Retief Goosen in his methodical approach. He misses nothing and that doesn’t come by chance. It’s just the way he looks at things, he’s doing this for a living and making the most out of it as opposed to just being talented.”

Although Byrne has caddied for many of the game’s finest golfers, he has yet to work at a Ryder Cup. It’s something he would like to do but clearly it wouldn’t be a major omission from his CV should it never come to pass.

“I have done a few President’s Cups with Goosen but to be honest, it doesn’t worry me,” he claimed. “It would be nice to do if it happened but I would find 12 guys pretending they liked each other for a week getting tough by the weekend … all those egos working together as I’m sure you’ve seen.”

Byrne’s rationale is that “you’d like to think Edoardo would be picked if he wins but I could understand why he wouldn’t get it. Monty probably needs experience in the team because he has quite a few inexperienced players. He’ll pick a team that he thinks can win it regardless of any muttering that might be going on. All these guys are as money conscious as the next. Who’s going to miss out on the Fed-Ex for the Ryder Cup and come over here?”