Sutton names Ryder Cup wild cards

Hal Sutton today named 50-year-old Jay Haas and Stewart Cink to complete his team for the US' attempt to win back the Ryder Cup in Detroit next month.

Haas will become the second-oldest player in cup history after Raymond Floyd. His debut was 21 years ago and his last appearance in 1995, when his defeat to Philip Walton gave Europe victory at Oak Hill.

Even though he has not won a tournament since the 1993 Texas Open he was given a wild card by Jack Nicklaus into last year’s Presidents Cup and now receives another call-up after falling out of an automatic top 10 spot on the final day of the three-year race for places.

Cink, a member of the side which lost at The Belfry two years ago, was Sutton’s other pick after finishing 14th on the standings.

His experience of the match and three recent top 10 finishes swayed things his way in Sutton’s mind as Steve Flesch and Jerry Kelly, who finished 11th and 13th in the points table, would have been rookies.

Sutton already has five of those in Kenny Perry, Chad Campbell, Fred Funk and the two men who forced their way in by coming second and fourth in the US PGA championship yesterday – Chris DiMarco and Chris Riley.

There are six survivors of the team which lost the trophy two years ago - major winners Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love, Jim Furyk and David Toms, plus Cink.

Love is the most experienced member of the side with five caps. Masters champion Mickelson will be winning his fifth and Woods his fourth.

While Bernhard Langer is unlikely to have a major champion in his line-up - the last time that happened was 1981 – Sutton has felt able to overlook four of America’s last six major winners.

It will have come as no surprise to Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel or Rich Beem that they did not get picked, but Todd Hamilton’s Open victory was only last month and he had hoped it would earn him a debut.

Justin Leonard, America’s match-winner in controversial fashion in Boston in 1999, would have been an automatic selection if he had won the US PGA title, but the 1997 Open champion bogeyed two of the last three holes and then lost the play-off to Vijay Singh.

If he had won the play-off Riley would have missed out.

It was only the second top 10 finish Leonard had had all year, however, and he knew that counted against him – as did the fact that in two cup matches he has never actually won a game.

The Americans will again look far the stronger on paper, but Europe have revelled in the underdog role. They have won three of the last four clashes and have held the trophy aloft at six of the last nine matches.

Oakland Hills will stage the first contest on United States soil since the scenes five years ago.

Leonard sparked celebrations with a dramatic 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th green, but they were premature.

Jose Maria Olazabal still had a chance to birdie as well and if he had done so then the overall match was still alive.

Having been subjected to crowd heckling, with Colin Montgomerie the principal target of that, the European camp were outraged by the actions of some American players, vice-captain Sam Torrance singling out Tom Lehman – “a man of God” - for fierce criticism.

Torrance took over the captaincy from Mark James and following the 12-month postponement caused by the September 11 terrorist attacks in America the match at The Belfry was conducted in good spirit inside and outside the ropes.

Now Sutton and Langer are hoping the same will be the case, although Langer will be warning his players about the possibility of a “hostile” atmosphere.