No joy for Shane Lowry as Darren Clarke prepares to bring six rookies to Hazeltine

He ignored the proven Ryder Cup records of candidates such as Graeme McDowell and Luke Donald in favour of current form

Darren Clarke will have six rookies on his European side to defend the Ryder Cup on American soil next month after naming Belgium's Thomas Pieters as one of his three captain's picks on Tuesday, writes Simon Lewis.

Clarke, with five debutants on his team already as automatic qualifiers, did draw on some further experience as he revealed his three wildcards to take on Davis Love III's USA outfit, naming Lee Westwood for his tenth Ryder Cup appearance and two-time major champion Martin Kaymer.