I’m not surprised Team Europe captain Luke Donald has matched up with the United States by opting to have six captain’s picks for next year’s Ryder Cup.
When Luke and vice-captain Eddie Molinari attended a meeting with the DP World Tour tournament committee last week with what they wanted next year the backing was unanimous.
Why? We accepted their belief having six picks gives us the best chance of doing well next year.
The countdown to Italy is now officially under way.
It’s no coincidence vice-captain Thomas Bjorn is joining Bob MacIntyre and Ewen Ferguson for the first two rounds of Made in Himmerland this week.
Luke is already running the rule over potential newcomers to the team next year and after the season they have had both Bob and Ewen come into that category.
Nicolai Hojgaard and Adri Arnaus, who will be joined by Luke, and Rasmus Hojgaard and Richard Mansell, who will have Eddie alongside them for their first rounds, also come into that category.
Keep an eye out on the pairings for the next three weeks for an early indicator of the list, which will be extensive at this early stage, of potential players in the captain’s thoughts.
LIV Golf element cannot be ignored
Of course, the elephant in the room in all of this is LIV Golf.
There is so much uncertainty in the current climate and we’ve seen how the new tour on the block has already impacted on the match.
We’ve had a change of captain after Henrik Stenson joined while there have been stalwarts from both teams who have been quick to jump ship.
Having a qualification system where the three leading Europeans on the Europe points list and three best players on the world points list ensures those in form are rewarded with a place in Luke’s team next year.
But it also gives him some real flexibility when it comes to filling out his squad.
One crucial tweak, which may go unnoticed by some, is the change in ratio of points between tournaments.
For example, the points on offer for winning a major or the DP World Tour Championship was six times higher than the lowest ranked event. The ratio is now down to 4:1.
It’s a slight change but an important one.
Under the old system, you could have a scenario where I win the BMW PGA Championship next week followed by the Dunhill Links in Scotland the following week and almost book a place in the team for next year.
That’s an awfully long time between being on the verge of qualifying and September next year when the match takes place in Italy and who is to say what my form would be like 12 months from now?
If you remember last year, the final qualifying event at Wentworth carried double points and we had a situation bordering on farcical where around 20 guys were still in with a chance of making the team.
Having more captain’s picks, not to mention a stats guru in Eddie alongside him, will give Luke that flexibility he needs and a whole host of options to play with.
He can pick guys in form and run the rule over potential successful partners for his team on a level we haven’t had before.
We’ll all have to wait and see how it pans out but already, it feels as if the excitement is now building.
McIlroy’s powers of recovery are remarkable
One man who seems certain to be in the European team next year is Rory McIlroy.
He put the low point of missing out on the Open at St Andrews behind him to become the first man to win the FedEx Cup three times on Sunday.
He was distraught in July but boy you have to admire the guy’s ability to bounce back from adversity.
Rory and Tiger Woods are leading the way in helping reshape the PGA Tour in the wake of LIV Golf’s arrival on the scene and I expect the future is going to look quite different for the DP World Tour too.
But clearly Rory is going to be at the heart of it all.
He’s an outspoken character but he always lets his clubs do the talking for him too and he deserved his victory on Sunday.
He’s committed to playing the Italian Open later this month at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. It is the venue for the Ryder Cup next year and I think we can all take Rory’s appearance as a good sign of his intentions.
You can be sure he will be right alongside captain Luke Donald that week and no doubt the course layout for next year will be a regular topic of discussion.
No surprises among latest LIV Golf newcomers
It’s official – another six players have joined LIV Golf.
There were no surprises on Tuesday when Open champion Cam Smith, Harold Varner III, Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri, Joaquin Niemann and Cameron Tringale were all confirmed for this week’s event in Boston.
They all have their reasons and they are entitled to play there if that’s where they think they can make the most money but we don’t all see it that way.
It’s becoming an interesting development though. The fields are capped at a 48-man field for the shotgun start over three rounds.
We’re already seeing names being left out as more new arrivals come in and for the guys who were playing on the PGA Tour before jumping ship earlier this year you do wonder what the future holds for them.
The PGA has been clear they don’t want them back so they could in effect be left with no tour to play on.
