Crunch Time for Ryder Cup Hopefuls

BY THE time the new Open champion is crowned, Europe's Ryder Cup team to take on America at Hazeltine in September will be almost finalised. And it is certain that Darren Clarke's team will look very different from the side that thrashed the United States at Gleneagles two years ago.

Already certain of their places in the team are Rory McIlroy, Danny Willett, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose. That leaves seven places up for grabs. Chris Wood, the BMW PGA champion, has probably already tied down one of those spots, so that leaves Andy Sullivan, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Matt Fitzpatrick, Thorbjorn Olesen, Lee Westwood, Soren Kjeldsen, Shane Lowry, Russell Knox, Thomas Pieters and Martin Kaymer battling for the remaining places.

Sullivan, Cabrera-Bello and Fitpatrick are favourites to claim the final three automatic places, which is going to leave Clarke with a big headache when it comes to his three captain's picks. Westwood is surely a shoo-in - he is a Ryder Cup veteran and has demonstrated that he is still a man for the big occasion, finishing second in The Masters and playing well for 54 holes in the US Open at Oakmont.

So who else is likely to be given the nod? Clarke will want more experience in the team, so you can be fairly sure that Kaymer, a double major champion and the man who holed the winning put at Medinah four years ago, will be selected. And it would be difficult for Clarke to ignore the claims of Shane Lowry, who won the WGC Bridgestone Invitational last year and gave Dustin Johnson such a terrific run for his money at Oakmont.

That means no place for Graeme McDowell, Luke Donald, Dubuisson, Kjeldsen, Olesen, Knox or Pieters. All of that could still change, of course, if somebody has a big week at Troon or at the US PGA Championship. Any of these men could still make the team, and there is time for somebody from way down the points list to fight their way into the team.

But let's take a look at the side at it would almost certainly stand today - McIlroy, Willett, Stenson, Garcia, Rose, Wood, Sullivan, Cabrera-Bella, Fitzpatrick, Westwood, Kaymer and Lowry. 

McIlroy, Willett, Rose and Kaymer are all major champions, while Stenson, Garcia, Lowry and Westwood should all have won at least one major. There is a huge amount of quality in this team, but Willett, Wood, Sullivan, Cabrera-Bello, Fitzpatrick and Lowry will all be making their debuts - that is SIX first-timers. You get the sense that Willett, Fitzpatrick and Lowry will take to the Ryder Cup like naturals and will be inspired by the pressure and the atmosphere. Indeed, Fitzpatrick could and should go on to become a veteran of this competition.

But how will Wood, Cabrera-Bello and Sullivan respond? They are three very different characters, and the general consensus is that Sullivan, who plays the game with a smile on his face, will stroll through the occasion and that the big names in the team will be keen to have him as either a fourball or foursomes partner.

Cabrera-Bello is an intense individual but the crucial thing is that he is in the form of his life and has played really well on American soil in 2016. Wood is a big-occasion player, so there should be no concerns on that front either.

So, what of the Americans? Already sure of their places are Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka and Matt Kuchar. And the battle for the five remaining places is between Brandt Snedeker, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Scott Piercey,  JB Holmes, Kevin Chappell, Bill Haas, Daniel Berger and Jason Dufner.

Dustin Johnson and Spieth need no introduction, and the same can be said of Mickelson, Watson, Kuchar, Fowler, Dufner and Reed. If you were an American you would definitely want Watson and Reed in your team - quite apart from their undoubted skills, they are cheerleaders, men who thrive under pressure and encourage the galleries to get involved. The Dustinator is not a man anybody would fancy facing right now, and Spieth's putting is capable of breaking anybody's heart.

But...Mickelson's Ryder Cup record is dreadful, and will any of our boys be seriously concerned about facing the likes of Zach Johnson, Koepka, Kuchar, Piercey, Holmes, Chappell, Haas, Berger or Dufner? No, I don't think so either.

Davis Love III, the US captain, will not be too happy to have witnessed the dramatic return to form after injury of Jim Furyk, a man who possesses the worst Ryder Cup record of any American golfer in modern times. Heaven help Love if Furyk turns out to be his secret weapon.

Love and his team are determined that there will be no repeat of recent humiliating defeats. The match may be close but, honestly, I see nothing in this American side to strike fear into European hearts. For me at least, even with six rookies in his side, Darren Clarke will be bringing that famous little gold trophy back to European soil.