Well the worst kept secret in golf was formally confirmed today as the PGA announced that Paul Azinger is to be the US Ryder Cup Captain for 2008 as reported here last week. The more interesting part of the announcement at the Valhalla Golf Club (home to the 2008 Ryder Cup) was the newly unveiled qualifying system for the US Ryder Cup team.
A change was widely anticpated to try and stem the flow of US losses (the US have lost 6 out of the previous 7 Ryder Cup competitions, the last two by record margins). At an overview level the two main changes are:
- Qualifying points become tied to the money list weighted towards the year of the competition rather than the two years preceding it as was the case this time around.
- There will be only 8 automatic qualifying spots (as opposed to 10) and Azinger will get to handpick the remaining 4 places.
Read on if you want the detailed breakdown of how the new US Ryder Cup qualifying system will work. The qualifying points will be awarded as follows:
- For every $1,000 dollars earned in any of the four majors (the Augusta Masters, the US Open, the British Open or the PGA Championships) during 2007 one point will be awarded.
- For every $1,000 dollars earned in any of the four majors (the Augusta Masters, the US Open, the British Open or the PGA Championships) during 2008 two points will be awarded.
- For every $1,000 dollars earned in any of the non-major tournaments during 2008 one point will be awarded.
- For every $1,000 dollars earned in any event which is played opposite one of the of the four majors during 2008 1/2 point will be awarded.
- And finally to tidy up the fact that a couple of 2006 events have already taken place, “Those players in 2006 that have earned points, those that have finished in the top ten, will get one quarter of a point for every thousand dollars they earned.”
This really is quite a shake-up of the qualifying system and as Azinger said himself he’ll end with the players who are “red hot” coming up to the competition. More importantly I think is the fact that he gets an extra two captain’s picks. During the 2006 Ryder Cup the two European Captain’s picks Woosnam and Westwood were at the centre of the push to victory. No doubt Azinger is trying to give himself that leeway for the future also when he faces his fellow ABC commentator Nick Faldo across the greens at Valhalla.
Finally you can read the full official announcement here, although be warned it’s not short!
Tags: nick-faldo, paul-azinger, us-ryder-cup-captain, us-ryder-cup-qualifying
