Has Captain Bjorn Got it Right?

Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn has received a fair amount of criticism from the golfing pundits after naming his four wildcard picks for this year’s tournament. Form was said to be clinically overlooked in favour of experience as Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson joined up with those that had qualified from the European and World points list.

Bjorn has played it safe, but has he got his selection right?

No Weak Links

Tiger Woods by Keith Allison

One of Thomas Bjorn’s concerns would have arisen from the fact that reigning Ryder Cup champions the United States will go into this tournament with one of the strongest teams for many years. Even though they are conceding home advantage this time, comparison site Oddschecker shows that Jim Furyk’s squad are odds-on favourites to retain the title that they won two years ago and it’s easy to see why.

Among the roster is double 2018 Major winner Brooks Koepka and the current US Masters Champion Patrick Reed. Dustin Johnson, who has only just lost his World Number One ranking, also features as do Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson who has won three tournaments on the PGA Tour this season.

Tiger Woods is included as a Captain’s pick after a strong return from injury while Furyk, unlike Bjorn, has gone for form above reputation by including Tony Finau. It’s a formidable line up so what have Europe got to offer in return?

Pride of Spain

Sergio Garcia & Francesco Molinari by myphoto

The main media focus has been on Sergio Garcia who becomes the first man in the history of the Ryder Cup to line up in the tournament having missed the cut in all four preceding Majors. On the plus side, here is a man who was Masters Champion less than 18 months previously and across a long professional career, the 38-year-old has recorded no fewer than 33 tournament wins.

During this year’s competition, Garcia could also overtake Sir Nick Faldo to become the leading European points scorer in the history of the Ryder Cup so we can, at least, empathise with Thomas Bjorn’s dilemma.

Adaptable

Ian Poulter by TourProGolfClubs

Paul Casey could only be seen as a contentious pick because the Englishman has committed to the PGA Tour for many years. He’s been consistent across the Atlantic and won the Valspar Championship earlier this season so there’s no real concern over form for a man who has appeared in three previous Ryder Cups.

Ian Poulter has also made a recovery of sorts in 2018 after he dropped out of the world’s Top 200. Victory at the Houston Open in April this year suggests that ‘Poults’ is back and he will undoubtedly prove his worth as the talisman who inspires the rest of the team.

That leaves 2016 British Open Champion Henrik Stenson where the concern is not over quality but whether the Swede is fully fit following a recent injury. Overall, the European wildcards are an experienced bunch and while form isn’t there in every case, the team will need that experience as they face what is arguably the best US side in the history of the competition.

U.S.A. WILL WIN Ryder Cup 2016

Yeah, I'm going to say it:

The U.S.A. team will win Ryder Cup 2016 at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.

Yes, you have my permission to call me delusional, a big-time homer or maybe even an idiot (it won't be the first time) for making this bold prediction.

In the tradition of historic successful predictions made by Joe Namath in the 1969 Super Bowl and Mark Messier in the 1994 N.H.L playoffs, I believe our boys in red, white and blue will bring the Ryder Cup back to American soil.

I can already hear the naysayers out there on the Internet Highway: The Guru's had one too many single-malts, all of the cumulative jet lag has rattled his smallish brain or he's just, well, an idiot.

The Guru understands your skepticism. After all, the Euros have won six out of the last seven and four straight Ryder Cups.

That said, here are my reasons the U.S.A. will be spraying champagne on the final day after the singles matches:

NO IAN POULTER--Due to a foot injury, "Poults" will not be a playing member of the European team, although he'll be a vice captain. Poulter has been the heart and soul of the Euro team with his passion and commitment to Ryder Cup. He rallied his troops at Gleneagles in 2014 with spirited play and timely shots and he was the key player in the amazing European comeback at Medinah in 2012, where he was the top points scorer from either side. Just as impressive is Poulter's incredible run of five birdies in a row to close out his Saturday four ball match with Rory McIlroy against Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson when Europe was trailing 10-4 and seemingly dead in the water. That match pretty much started the miracle comeback.

PATRICK REED IS IN-YOUR-FACE--The pugnacious, irascible Reed is the type of take-no-prisoners player the U.S.A. team has been missing. His famous finger-to-the-lips "shooshing" of the crowd after sinking a putt at Gleneagles in Scotland in 2014 is the stuff of legend now. Reed went 3-0-1 at Gleneagles and never once backed down to the crowd or opposing players. Nobody on the American team played better than Reed at Gleneagles. The U.S.A. finally has someone as defiant and passionate as Ballesteros and Poulter and Reed should make a big difference at Hazeltine National.

TEAM U.S.A.WILL FINALLY SINK PUTTS WHEN THEY COUNT--In many ways, Ryder Cup matches evolve into putting contests. The Euros have sunk them in timely moments and the U.S.A. has not. I predict that will change in 2016. This year the U.S.A. is bringing some serious flatsticks to the moss. The U.S.A. team has six players in the top 30 in the PGA Tour's Putting Average (through the weekend ending 9/19/16): Jordan Spieth (T1), Dustin Johnson (3), Phil Mickelson (5), Brooks Koepka (T16), Matt Kuchar (T16) and Brandt Snedeker (26). The top European player is Rory McIlroy at T31, which is where U.S.A Captain's Pick J.B. Holmes is also slotted. I certainly comprehend that several of the European players don't play a full PGA Tour schedule, but the numbers are still impressive for the U.S.A. The putts are gonna drop this year and propel the U.S.A. to victory.

Twitter: Top 10 Golfers to Follow

The next best thing to following big name golfers in tournaments is, of course, to, uh, follow them on Twitter, right?

If you want to read and respond to some of the best tweets in the golf kingdom, try some of these:

1. Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter)—Poulter takes great pride in his Twitter banter and you never know what he’ll come up with from day to day. He’s brash and sometimes annoying, but always interesting.

2. Paul Azinger (@PaulAzinger)—The outspoken “Zinger” comments on everything from politics to golf and other sports. He’s never dull.

3. Stewart Cink (@stewartcink)--He has an amazing 1,157,740 followers so he must be saying something interesting on a regular basis.

4. Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory)—The young Irish phenom seems to drone on incessantly about his great girlfriend, tennis star Carol Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki), but also has personal tidbits about his daily life.

5. Bubba Watson (@bubbawatson)—Known for his offbeat tweets like “View of 16^th hole in Bermuda from jet ski”, Watson keeps you posted on his great life.

6. Natalie Gulbis (@natalie_gulbis)—The LPGA’s glamour girl keeps you updated on her life on and off the course and always provides a lot of eye candy with great photos.

7. John Daly (@PGA_JohnDaly)—Nobody lives a wilder life on the PGA tour than J.D. He was made for Twitter because you never know where he’ll be and what he’ll say.

8. Rickie Fowler (@RickieFowlerPGA)—One of Tour’s rising young stars, Fowler’s interests go well beyond golf. He sort of over tweets on the Oklahoma State Cowboys (where he attended college), but he’s still a good one to follow.

9. Brittany Lincicome (@Brittany Lincicome)—Good behind-the-scenes LPGA information available here. Lincicome and LPGA’er Christina Kim (@TheChristinaKim) recently got into a highly entertaining Twitter dust up.

10. Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods)—He has the most followers in the golf industry (2,718,053), but he never seems to say much that’s enlightening or interesting. Here’s a classic mundane tweet by Tiger: “Amazing first visit to Turkey. Thanks Turkish Airlines, event organizers and fans. Very special place and a really fun event.” Yawn.