The final Major of the season begins tomorrow and the race to qualify for The Ryder Cup is still wide open for both teams.
From a European standpoint, Captain Colin Montgomerie has a whole host of conundrums to deal with before October with a number of key players needing a big week at Whistling Straits to secure their place on the team as the race to qualify enters the final three events.
As it stands, World Number Nine Paul Casey, three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington, twice US PGA Tour winner this year Justin Rose, World Number 21 Edoardo Molinari, big-hitter Alvaro Quiros and Ryder Cup stalwart Sergio Garcia would all need a Captain’s pick – and Montgomerie only has three of those to use.
“It's very interesting at this time of year as to who makes and who doesn't make with respect to Ryder Cup Teams and very interesting to see who is performing well under a huge amount of pressure,” said Montgomerie, speaking at a joint conference with his opposite number Corey Pavin.
“All my prospective clients are playing here, apart from obviously the injured Lee Westwood. So I have everybody here on site, and who is going to figure in that Ryder Cup.
“I look forward to seeing them all through the week. And it is quite tiring to go around and having to visit everybody to try and see everybody and to see how they feel and to see their schedule from now on until The Ryder Cup.
“I have a number of top 20 players in the world. I've got Justin Rose, Padraig Harrington and Paul Casey and Molinari, too. It's a headache but it's a nice headache to have. It's the first time that a European Captain has had such a strong team that haven't quite qualified as yet.
“I'll know a lot more after this event as the amount of world points and the amount of euros to be earned in this particular event will see a change, and I'm looking forward to seeing what that outcome is at the end of this week.
“Then we have got two more weeks to qualify - the Czech Open, and also the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and we look forward to seeing who is going to make it.”
Montgomerie fully expects his top player Lee Westwood to be fit for the match. England’s World Number Three misses this week’s US PGA Championship with a calf problem.
“I've just spoken to Chubby Chandler here, his manager, and having spoken to Lee, he will be hitting balls in four weeks, which is great news for everybody in Europe,” said Montgomerie.
“He's our top ranked player and our Ryder Cup Team will be greatly weakened if he didn't make it. So I'm delighted that he is going to hit balls within four weeks, and that gives him still another couple of weeks to prepare.
“He wants to play in the preceding event, which is The Vivendi Cup, and I would be glad to see him play there, but otherwise, if he doesn't, I'm sure three practice rounds around Celtic Manor will be good enough for Lee. As I say, he's our top ranked player, he's our Number One player, and I'm just so glad to hear that news today that he will be hitting balls in four weeks time.”
Pavin is not without his dilemma’s either. The US points race ends this week, and as it stands World Number One Tiger Woods is not in one of the eight automatic places.
A good performance at Whistling Straits would change that, but Pavin admits he is considering as many as 20 players for his four Captain’s picks.
“It's kind of a gut feeling,” said Pavin. “Obviously there's many factors that are involved in Captain's picks and part of them is who are the eight players that are going to be on the team after this week and the four that complement them the best is going to be what I'm going to have to do.
“There are a lot of parameters that I'm going to be looking at and one will be do I think they can handle the pressure over there.
“What I'm looking for in a player is the ability to play well in The Ryder Cup in Europe. And whoever type of player whoever that player is, is what I'm looking for.
“It's not a matter of whether they have played ten Ryder Cups or six Ryder Cups or none, it's going to be kind of a gut feeling of who I feel I think can handle the pressure the best over there. That's going to be part of my decision making and that's part of my job as Captain.”
