Great Britain & Ireland dream team discovered

A whacky thought crossed my mind at the weekend.  It’s a sort of after-shock wave, I guess, since waking up to the momentous news last Friday (24th June) that Britain has voted to leave the European Union.  Together with millions of others around the world, I had to pinch myself to check that I wasn’t dreaming.  The discussions and repercussions of Britain no longer being part of the EU will rumble on for years to come. But as the Dutch football legend Johan Cruijff used to say: “Elk nadeel heb zijn voordeel”, which literally translated means: “Every disadvantage has its advantage”!  And so it is.  Cruijff was also an enthusiastic golfer, by the way, which takes me back to my original whacky thought.

 

How would the Ryder Cup team playing against the United States of America look today if it were based on the ‘Great Britain and Ireland’ player selection as in the early Seventies?  In other words, only players from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.  We’ve checked out the current Ryder Cup European Points List and the World Points List of the European Tour (as at 28th June after the BMW International Open in Germany) and come up with an interesting hypothetical team.  Just like the European Tour criteria, we’ve selected the top four from the European Points List and the top five from the World Points List.  And then made our own three ‘Golfing Inspirations’ Wild Card Picks based on the season so far.

 

   

 

Our fantasy GB&I team:

 

Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)

Danny Willett (England)

Chris Wood (England)

Matt Fitzpatrick (England)

Andy Sullivan (England)

Justin Rose (England)

Lee Westwood (England)

Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland)

Russell Knox (Scotland)

 

We say: “Go wild with the Wild Cards” and have two Lees in the team!  After all, it was Lee Slattery from Southport who kicked-off the new Ryder Cup points season with his win in Russia last September and who very nearly made it back-to-back wins with the KLM Open.  His career is at its peak and deserves a “now or never” Wild Card pick in our ‘Great Britain & Ireland’ imaginary team.  Here are ‘Golfing Inspirations’ three Wild Cards:

 

Our Wild Card Picks:

 

Shane Lowry (Ireland)

Lee Slattery (England)

Andrew Johnston (England)

 

 

Two Lees or not two Lees? That’s the question!

 

 

 

We must admit, that the final Wild Card choice was really tough.  The last spot was between three English players: Luke Donald, Ross Fisher and Andrew Johnston.  We finally chose to “beef-up” the team with Johnston (pictured above right).  Paired with Shane Lowry from Ireland (left), they would form an intimidating bearded duo.  Alas, there is only one Scot in the team, but we daren’t fish deeper than ranked 30th in the Ryder Cup World Points List – that would be going too wild!

 

Europeans oozing Ryder Cup experience

 

Even so, our imaginary team looks pretty impressive, doesn’t it?  A good match for the USA.  A perfect mix of experienced Ryder Cup stalwarts, fresh blood and hungry young talent. Yet as strong as the fantasy GB&I team looks on paper, there would be some huge misses.  What about Spain’s seriously on-form Sergio Garcia, for example, and Victor Dubuisson (France) and Henrik Stenson (Sweden), all in the top-10 of the rankings and oozing Ryder Cup experience.

 

 

A purely GB&I team would also mean missing out on the likes of Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello (pictured above) making his Ryder Cup debut.  The 32-year old from Gran Canaria is currently number 4 in the Race to Dubai.  It would be a shame not to see his dashing good looks grace the fairways at the Hazeltine National Golf Course in Minnesota, USA.

 

Spanish passion and steely German focus

 

Indeed, a Ryder Cup without a passionate Spaniard playing in it is unthinkable these days.  Since 1979, players such as Seve Ballesteros, José Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez have all made a huge contribution to the thrill and excitement of the event and have helped make the tournament what it is today.  Likewise a European team without the steely focus of a German such as Bernhard Langer in the past and, more recently, Martin Kaymer (below), is hard to imagine.  So many players from mainland Europe have touched our hearts and held the Ryder Cup aloft!

 

 

With less than 100 days to go before the 41st edition tees-off in America, there are more talented European debutants hovering in the wings.  Players like Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) (pictured right), Thomas Pieters (Belgium) (pictured centre) and Joost Luiten from Holland (pictured left), who is currently 11th in the Race to Dubai, and is super-focused on becoming the first Dutchman to play in the Ryder Cup.

 

    

 

America lead the way in the Ryder Cup

 

Europe still has some lost ground to recover from the early Ryder Cup years.   History books reveal that from the first edition in 1927 to date that the victory tally is strongly in America’s favour: USA 25 – EUROPE/GB&I 13.  But if we look at the results since 1979, when we began to field a European team, it’s an impressively different story:  Europe 8 – USA 7, plus one tied match.

 

So roll on 29th September and let the Ryder Cup begin!

 

Wendy Hoad

 

TOP LINE-UP: Rory McIlroy, Danny Willett, Andy Sullivan and Matt Fitzpatrick.  © Photography by Golfing Inspirations & Archive photos.