Darren Clarke announces his Ryder Cup wildcard picks

Darren Clarke announced his three wildcard choices to join the 9 players who already nailed their spot on the European Ryder Cup team.

Clarke chose Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, and rookie Thomas Pieters.

The full roster of 12, now consists of 6 rookies and 6 experienced players, making Team Europe a well balanced competitor against Team USA.

Martin Kaymer tweeted out his praise to Clarke for choosing him as a teammate.

Six top-10s in his recent events, somewhat of a Ryder Cup stalwart and none of us can forget the putt he holed at Medinah a couple of years ago. A man I have a massive amount of trust in.

Darren Clarke on Kaymer

While Martin Kaymer was delighted to be a captain’s pick, not everyone could say the same. Players like Russell Knox and Shane Lowry were disappointed not to be chosen.

Clarke said that the decision to choose Pieters over Knox was very difficult to make. He played with Pieters recently and ultimately this is where his final pick was solidified.

Last week I played with him as I have done many times on the qualification period. When we teed off on Thursday morning, Thomas knew exactly why I was playing with him. There were a few other contenders I was thinking about as well but Thomas went out and shot one of the finest 62s I have ever witnessed, and made it look very easy.

Darren Clarke

You can’t make everyone happy, but in the end he’s very happy with the outcome of his team.

Now we wait for Davis Love III to make his four captain’s picks, which he will do after the Tour Championship.

Who will complete Team USA to ride against this extremely strong European Team??

Start the discussion

to comment