... along the way they normally select the side, the automatic qualifiers in the European team would have included Bernd Wiesberger, Marc Warren, Danny Willett and Ross Fisher.
Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer (along with Miguel Angel Jiminez) would all have missed out and had to rely on captain's picks. Which does make you wonder if appearing in the Ryder Cup gives some of those players that extra motivation - possibly too much - needed to play well in the build-up to it. Poulter, in particular, who once said his only motivation was to replace Tiger Woods as world number one, has never come remotely close to doing so, even though four of his European team-mates have all been number one since Woods went off the boil.
Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer (along with Miguel Angel Jiminez) would all have missed out and had to rely on captain's picks. Which does make you wonder if appearing in the Ryder Cup gives some of those players that extra motivation - possibly too much - needed to play well in the build-up to it. Poulter, in particular, who once said his only motivation was to replace Tiger Woods as world number one, has never come remotely close to doing so, even though four of his European team-mates have all been number one since Woods went off the boil.
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