You won’t see the faces of Ryder Cup regulars Sergio Garcia (Spain), Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter (England) when the Europe-U.S. golf tournament gets underway in Italy on Sept. 29.
Ryder Cup European Team Manager Luke Donald (England) confirmed the 12 players who will represent Europe at the Ryder Cup on Friday.
The top six players on the Order of Merit – Yon Rahm (Spain), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Viktor Hovland (Norway), Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick (England) and Robert McIlroy (Scotland) – have earned automatic selection.
Tommy Fleetwood (England), Nicolai Hoygård (Denmark), Shane Lowry (Ireland), Justin Rose (England), Jeff Straka (Austria) and Ludwig Eibery (Sweden) will compete in the Ryder Cup as captain’s picks.
Experienced seniors such as Garcia, Westwood and Poulter, who moved to LIV Golf, were not selected by Donald.
Garcia, who holds the record for most wins by a European player in nine Ryder Cups (25) and the most points by a European player (28.5), was a favorite to be named captain after the recent announcement of the merger of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf.스포츠토토
Donald appears to have placed more emphasis on teamwork than experience.
Instead, he chose the experienced and seasoned Rose, Lowry, and Fleetwood, along with “fearless” newcomers like Hoygor and Avery.