With over half of Darren Clarke’s European Ryder Cup team in Monza this week for the Italian Open there was always bound to be plenty of Ryder Cup talk. So what have the men who will be on that plane to Hazeltine in a couple of weeks been saying?
Lee Westwood:
“This will be good preparation week for me. Hopefully I can get myself in contention and get the competitive juices flowing. Next week is a week off, I’ll work on my game at home and do a bit of gym work to keep the body ticking over, but I don’t want to overdo it because the Ryder Cup is obviously a long and tiring week, both mentally and physically.”
Matt Fitzpatrick:
Martin Kaymer:
“I played really well here last year so I have a lot of positive memories. Next week I’ll be playing in Germany at the Porsche European Open so it's all very positive going into the Ryder Cup and hopefully I can take some momentum to Hazeltine.
“There’s no one really that I don’t want to play [with]. If Darren paired me with Danny Willett or Matt Fitzpatrick that would be good, especially Matt because we get along very well, and then Danny Willett is a very good player to play with in the foursomes.”
Danny Willett:
“I’ll play this week and then have next week off at home with my family and get some training and practice in, then head to the Ryder Cup nice and fresh.
“I can’t wait to get there, get on the team plane and be part of a really strong European team. We’re all very, very close. A lot of the guys play both PGA and European Tours, but when we’re in Europe we play a lot of golf with each other, and I think the team spirit is going to be very, very good. All the rookies who played in the EurAsia Cup are going to Hazeltine, so as a mixture I think that’s great.”
Rafa Cabrera-Bello:
