Paul McGinley said Stephen Gallacher’s brave display at the Italian Open convinced him the Scot was ready for the Ryder Cup.
The European captain admitted he had to think long and hard before handing a rookie one of his three wild cards, which meant leaving out former world number one Luke Donald.
But watching Gallacher miss out on automatic qualification by a solitary stroke when he finished third in Turin on Sunday when a top-two finish would have guaranteed him an automatic pick proved the 39-year-old could cope with the pressure of representing Europe.
On a day of difficult phone calls when he had to let Donald, Francesco Molinari and Joost Luiten know they hadn’t made the side, McGinley says letting Gallacher know he had made the team was one of his easier tasks.
McGinley said: “His first words were: ‘That’s brilliant, wee man’.
“Of course, it’s a concern for me that he’s a rookie and it’s very difficult to take a rookie in a Ryder Cup.
“But I’ve said from day one that I’m not afraid to pick a rookie if he proved himself and there’s no doubt that Stevie Gallacher has proved himself and earned his spot on this team.
“He was up against it and as a rookie, you’ve got to do a little bit more to earn a pick, and I think Stevie did more than a little bit more. The performance last week, in particular, had a huge effect on me.
“Stevie had the goal last week. He played relatively poorly for three weeks in a row in America at a crucial time in the qualifying process around the time of the US PGA champion-ship.
“He came back with a decent performance in the Czech Republic and needed a big performance last week.
“To stand up to the plate on Sunday where he shot the second best score of the day in 65 was tremendous.
“But for me, the afternoon on Friday, that’s when he really, really showed that he wanted to be a Ryder Cup player.
“I think he was 14 shots behind the leader at that stage and knew he needed a top two finish so to come home in 30 and get himself within touching distance of the leaders showed a lot.
“And then he followed it up with a very strong weekend too.”
Gallacher’s inclusion in the European team may make the cheers for Europe even louder at Gleaneagles later this month.
McGinley had hoped to include a Scot in his 12-man team but said Gallacher fully merited his inclusion.
He added: “It’s a factor and my personal relationship with Stevie is very strong and always has been but I couldn’t let that get involved in the decision making, and I couldn’t let the fact that he was Scottish playing in his home country become a massive reason as to why he should get the pick.
“He had to earn his place.
“And he really went out and earned his spot. He finished 10th in the standings – he was the next man in. If I had kept the process in place that Jose Maria Olazabal had, he would have qualified.
“He went out and he grabbed it with both hands and he showed how much he wanted to be a Ryder Cup player and that, to me, was the biggest influence of him being in the Ryder Cup.
“The fact that he’s Scottish is wonderful. The fact that he’s got a great record around that golf course obviously had an effect in terms of my decision making. But a lot of things went into it and everybody was considered very, very carefully.”