Ryder Cup: Who captain Thomas Bjorn should choose for Team Europe
Both the European and American sides have some big decisions coming up on who should make the final four spots of the Ryder Cup team. Their decision needs to be finalized by September 5th, giving players that are on the bubble little time for a late push to make the team.
Since the Europeans are coming off a loss in the last Ryder Cup, captain Thomas Bjorn might have a little more pressure on him than his American counterpart, Jim Furyk, to make the right decision on who to choose for the four captain’s picks.
Right now the projected automatic qualifiers for the team are Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Tyrell Hatton, and Tommy Fleetwood who would all qualify from the European points list. The rest of the automatic qualifiers list is rounded out by Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Norén, and Thorbjorn Olesen who would make the team on worldwide points.
That group of players already includes five players who would be making their Ryder Cup debut, so it is likely that Bjorn would choose players that have some Ryder Cup experience already under their belt for the final four spots on the team.
Currently, Russell Knox and Eddie Pepperell rank 10th and 11th in the Ryder Cup rankings for Europe, so they would be the logical choices. But they would also be rookies if they made the squad and could be left off the team because of their inexperience.
Team U.S.A. will already be the more seasoned team by far, with Justin Thomas and Webb Simpson being the only automatic qualifiers who would be making their Ryder Cup debut. Considering their overall track record on the PGA TOUR, that’s not exactly something to shy away from.
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In years past, Europe was able to win the cup with a bunch of rookies on their team, but at Hazeltine, they started six first-time players and got blown out of the water, so they will probably be weary of making the same mistake again.
There are a few solid veterans that are currently on the Ryder Cup bubble that Bjorn should have his eyes on selecting to give the roster some stability. These are the four players who should make the final spots to try and take back the Ryder Cup for Europe in this heated rivalry.