Poultry is more interested in playing the US tour etc (which is fair enough - it’s his professional career choice to make) but I don’t think he deserves a wild card option. If he was playing some cracking golf then fair enough, but Clarke has a good record in the ryder cup and all things being equal this means alot.
People would be queuing up to stitch it to the likes of poulter but it’s different with Clarke. He has a good temperment and thats worth alot in the ryder cup.
Nick Dougherty and Monty were speculating yesterday that Poulter has already been promised a pick by Faldo. The media soundbites are getting interesting as the week progresses - Harrington publicly backed Clarke for one this morning.
Last qualifying tournament for the Europeans this week. Gleneagles. Some of those in the mix are having varying days. Monty +2, Oliver Wilson +3, Soren Hanson Par after 11, Darren Clarke -1 after 11. McDowell is +5 the lazy fook. Paul McGinley +2.
Monty on a bit of a tear today in the Johnnie Walker (the final qualifying round for Ryder points). He’s in 4th at the minute, it’d be great to see him pull off a win this weekend, it’d put enormous pressure on Prick Faldo to pick him then, especially with his unbeaten record in Ryder singles matches.
Padraig Harrington (Ire)
Sergio Garcia (Spn)
Lee Westwood (Eng)
Henrik Stenson (Swe)
Robert Karlsson (Swe)
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spn)
Graeme McDowell (NI)
Justin Rose (Eng)
Soren Hansen (Den)
Oliver Wilson (Eng)
Ian Poulter (Eng)
Paul Casey (Eng)
As far as i know this is the team
Faldo goes for Ian Pouter and Paul Casey. Don’t agree. Smug English man goes for his own kind. Heard a good comment on Newstalk about the choices: Monty and the unfortunate Clarke are their own men, they’ll do what they want to do, Poulter and Casey will do whatever the Boss man wants them to do.
Bad bad picks. I must see what the odds are for a home win and back it. The advantage is to the US right now…
Locke, did you see SkySports news, Ewan Murray was absoloutely bullin’ Clarke wasn’t picked he slated Faldo and slated Poulter too. He said no way should Poulter have been picked, he’s missed the last 2cuts, has played all the Majors yet didn’t automatically qualify and is way too inconsistant.
Must say I quiet enjoyed his rant, never heard him so animated before, didn’t think he had it in him.
Didn’t see it Ballobas, but he’s dead right. Poulter hasn’t shot under 68 since something like January. Just had a sick feeling in my stomach when I saw the smug head on Faldo saying his picks. Fuckin bollox. Clarke should have been picked. Big big pressure on Faldo and his picks now. Advantage to the Sherman’s in my book. Some plonkers on Newstalk. They even had a golf “expert” on and he made some good points, but at the end the comment was made that Harrington would have wanted another Irishman on the team, Clarke should be the other Irish man on the team, McDowell is Irish the last time I looked at him…
To be honest I could see there being an undercurrent of resentment in some of the European team now, (Faldos not a popular guy at the best of times) hopefully they’ll all pull together with the usual comradarie and tear the yanks a new arsehole yet again.
Surely nobody is shocked that Faldo has done this? He’s been an odd fucker all his life and was never going let some little golfing person like Clarke or Montgomery upset what is surely going to be HIS finest hour.
I think Europe could still do it, but it would depend on the US being shiter than usual which would be quite the task.
[quote=“Locke”]Faldo goes for Ian Pouter and Paul Casey. Don’t agree. Smug English man goes for his own kind. Heard a good comment on Newstalk about the choices: Monty and the unfortunate Clarke are their own men, they’ll do what they want to do, Poulter and Casey will do whatever the Boss man wants them to do.
Bad bad picks. I must see what the odds are for a home win and back it. The advantage is to the US right now…[/quote]
How Clarke didn’t make it is beyond me. Has an excellent Ryder Cup record and is in good form. I wonder if McGinley had been a vice captain would it have been different? Did McGinley and Clarke fall out or was it just that McGinley wanted to play in his own right as reported in today’s Irish Times (as an aside thought their coverage of the picks was very poor with little or no focus on Clarke)
[quote=“Bandage”]Could Poulter have already discussed things with Faldo and been assured he’s going to be one of the picks?
I doubt it. Surely Faldo would have preferred if he played his way automatically onto the team to give him more scope with his picks.
Faldo’s a bit eccentric so I wouldn’t take it as a given that he’s going to pick Casey and Clarke.[/quote]
I just had the feeling last week that Faldo would surprise everyone with his picks and he has done. I don’t think Monty can have too many complaints as he’s not been playing well this season though his past Ryder Cup record meant he merited serious consideration. But Clarke can certainly feel hard done by having won twice this season and the second victory was only last week. Of course, he also has a good Cup record himself. Aside from Poulter’s display at The British Open, he hasn’t done enough to warrant a pick in my opinion. The fact that he chose to play in America last week instead of competing in Europe showed a lack of commitment, yet he’s been rewarded with a pick. Very tough on Clarke.
faldo…biased little bastard. poulter got on that team based one one performance and that was his 2nd place finish at the open. Clarke won twice this year. Poulter doesnt have the bottle for a ryder cup, the reason why he didnt play at gleneagles was because if he missed the cut faldo would look like a bigger fool that he already is. this will be a disaster for faldo if europe dont pull a win off, hes putting himself under even more pressure. what a stupid fucker…cant stand the man.
That said Westwood and Garcia had a great partnership a good while ago but they might be kept apart to form two separate pairs where each will lead more inexperienced partners.
Harrington played a lot with McGinley and Monty in recent Ryder Cups so it’ll be interesting to see who he’s paired with. I think he’s played with Jimenez and Stenson before but only on 1 occasion each.
Poulter and Rose are great mates apparently and could team up but the European lads could probably link up with anyone.
I think it is important to have all 12 players involved at least twice before the singles on the last day, as opposed to that clown Mark James picking Andrew Coltart as a wild card and then keeping him on the sidelines until the last day.