Paul Azinger has announced his 4 wild card picks to complete his team for next months Ryder Cup Matches at Valhalla. They are Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan, J.B. Holmes and Chad Campbell.
Posts Tagged ‘ryder-cup’
Azinger Picks Stricker, Mahan, Holmes and Campbell
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008Wild Card Hopefuls
Friday, August 29th, 2008It’s last chance saloon for a wild card place on the European Ryder Cup team this weekend. The final automatic places on the team will be determined at Gleneagles and then Nick Faldo will add his two wild card picks. Naturally Colin Montgomerie is still angling for a place as are Darren Clarke, Ian Poulter, and Paul Casey just to mention a few. I’m really enjoying Conor O’Kanes new golf blog, so if you are looking for a really good golfing read head over to pgatourist.blogspot.com. His “Highlander” take on the battle for the last few places on the European team is hilarious!
Meanwhile across the water United States Ryder Cup team captain Paul Azinger announce his wild card picks for the 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup team with a special announcement at the Hotel Martinique in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 10 a.m. Remember he has 4 picks to make up his team to Faldo’s 2
News Roundup
Monday, August 11th, 2008
Europe Ryder Cup Team News
Congratulation to Padraig Harrington who is on fire, with a win at the PGA Championship. By adding the Wanamaker trophy to the Claret Jug he has sealed his place in history with back to back Majors victories and also further increases his position at the top of the automatic qualifiers for Team Europe.
Sergio Garcia, who started the PGA outside the top ten has jumped to third in the European standings with second place at Oakland Hills (which may be a small consolation for running up to Harrington again).
US Ryder Cup Team News
The PGA championship at Oakland Hills was the last chance saloon for players wanting to qualify for the US Ryder Cup Team and the automatic qualifiers are as follows:
* Phil Mickelson
* Stewart Cink
* Kenny Perry
* Jim Furyk
* Anthony Kim
* Justin Leonard
* Ben Curtis
* Boo Weekley
Ben Curtis zoomed up 13 places in the rankings after his tie for second place in the Championship which means that Steve Stricker, who went into the Championship in eighth place was bumped.
This leaves captain Paul Azinger with 4 captains picks to make up the US team, he has until Sept 2nd to announce his picks.
US Ryder Cup Points 2008
Thursday, July 24th, 2008UPDATED (24 July 2008): The latest standings for the US Ryder Cup team are shown below. This is following the latest qualifying events and also takes into account the news that Tiger Woods will be missing from the Ryder Cup this year.
Don’t forget that the new US Ryder Cup qualification system is in place so there are only 8 rather than 10 automatic qualification spots this year.
|
2008 US Ryder Cup Points – (24 July 2008) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Player | Points | |||
| 1 | Stewart Cink | 4906 | |||
| 2 | Phil Mickelson | 4570 | |||
| 3 | Kenny Perry | 4445 | |||
| 4 | Jim Furyk | 4186 | |||
| 5 | Anthony Kim | 3807 | |||
| 6 | Justin Leonard | 3278 | |||
| 7 | Boo Weekley | 2592 | |||
| 8 | Steve Stricker | 2557 | |||
With time running out the really interesting part is looking at who is hovering just outside the top eight with time running out and opportunities to earn those valuable points running out. Listed below are those who are just outside the automatic qualification spots.
| 9 | Woody Austin | 2381 |
| 10 | Rocco Mediate | 2204 |
| 11 | Hunter Mahan | 2172 |
| 12 | D.J. Trahan | 2132 |
| 13 | Zach Johnson | 2102 |
| 14 | Brandt Snedeker | 2088 |
| 15 | Jeff Quinney | 2014 |
| 16 | J.B. Holmes | 1979 |
| 17 | Bart Bryant | 1900 |
| 18 | Sean O’hair | 1804 |
| 19 | Ben Curtis | 1787 |
| 20 | Jerry Kelly | 1753 |
There is a lot of players bunched up just below this and if you want to see all 204 players who currently have some US Ryder Cup points see here.
Padraig Harrington Open Victory
Monday, July 21st, 2008
Congratulations to Padraig Harrington who successfully defended his Open Title over the weekend at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport. Padraig is the first European in over a century to win the Open back to back and shares the feat with Tiger Woods who won it in 2005 and 2006.
In a confident display Harrington saw off Greg Norman, who emerged as a surprise contender and led going into the final round. Harrington finished with 4 shots in hand at 18th. The weather was foul over the weekend with high winds and rain, which meant the scores were quite high – Harrington ending up 3 over for the tournament.
This win will see Padraig safely on the European Ryder Cup team, and by the looks of this tournament he will be a major force on the team.
Tiger Woods turns down Ryder Cup Vice Captaincy
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Tiger Woods has stirred up all the usual Tiger/Ryder controversies with his refusal to accept the Vice Captaincy offered by Paul Azinger. On Tiger’s official website he says:
“I’m not on the team,” and “The event should be about the competitors and the competition. The guys will have plenty on their minds and I wish them the best. I’ll be cheering loudly.â€
Azinger obviously felt that the event and the US team would benefit by the presence of the world’s No 1 ranked player, however Tiger is not going to play ball. Is this simply a manifestation of Tiger’s single-minded determination and focus (this time on healing his knee) or is it, as many are claiming, evidence that Tiger just doesn’t care about the Ryder Cup, the Team or representing the US? I guess it we’ll never really know but it certainly adds to the media entertainment factor as pro-Tiger and anti-Tiger journalists slug it out!
Ryder Cup Memorabilia
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
There’s a very interesting Golfing Memorabilia auction next Monday (14th of July 2008) at Bonhams in Chester in the UK. Amongst the treasure trove of items are some exciting Ryder Cup pieces. Lot 115 is The ‘Third Biennial International Dinner’ menu 25 June 1931 – the front cover signed with 12 player’s autographs to include George Duncan, Walter Hagen, Arthur Havers, Fred Robson, Abe Mitchell, Billy Burke together with the Mayor of Columbus and the Governor of Ohio.
With an estimate of £2,000 – £3,000
For further details contact the auction house:
Bonhams
New House
150 Christleton Road
Chester, Cheshire
CH3 5TD
Tel: +44 (0)1244 313 936
Fax: +44 (0)1244 340 028
Ryder Cup Wales
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
The 38th Ryder Cup Matches will be held in Wales in the Celtic Manor Resort which is located in the beautiful Usk valley close to Newport in South Wales.
For accommodation for the event contact the Ryder Cup Travel Services who are co-ordinating bookings for the majority of hotels within a 30 mile radius. Their (UK) contact number is 0870 755 3004.
Tickets will as usual be issued by lottery to be announced after the 2008 event – we’ll keep you posted…
Wales has some wonderful courses that are worth a visit if you are traveling to the event, including the Royal St Davids, which dates back to 1894, Cardigan and Cradoc – to mention just a few. Feel free to let us know what your favourite Welsh course is and why…
Ryder Cup Blog
Monday, June 23rd, 2008The RyderDiary.com is the definitive Ryder Cup Blog. We are all Ryder Cup ALL the time. We are always interested in new contributors and what you have to say, so if you are passionate (and knowledgeable) about the Ryder Cup and have some interesting insight we’d be delighted to hear from you…
We’re interested in anything Ryder Cup related from Ryder Cup History to Ryder Cup News
No Tiger in Kentucky!
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
The game’s greatest player will not be playing in this year’s Ryder Cup in Valhalla. News that Tiger will have reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of his left knee emerged today from his personal website.
Tiger’s golfing accomplishments in the last twelve months seem even greater with the news that he ruptured his ACL shortly after last year’s Open Championship yet since then has battled on to win ten of the thirteen tournaments in which he has played (btw, the other three were two second-place finishes and one fifth-place!). Even more extraordinary is the news that he also has a double stress fracture of his left tibia. One can only speculate how well Tiger could be playing if he was fully fit!
