European Ryder Cup captain, Jose Maria Olazabal today announced England’s Ian Poulter and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts as his two Medinah ‘wildcard’ picks.
Poulter, 32 will be competing in his fourth Ryder Cup since making his debut in 2004 while Colsaerts, 29 will be the only ‘rookie’ in Olazabal’s team.
European Ryder Cup captain, Jose Maria Olazabal with Nicolas Colsaerts, the first Belgium in the 85-year history to compete in the Ryder Cup. (Photo - Stuart Adams/www.golftourimages.com)
Colsaerts is also the first Belgium-born player to be competing in the Ryder Cup in it’s 85-year history.
“I’m proud to announce that 2012 European Ryder Cup Team, the first ten players that already qualified are: Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Peter Hanson, Martin Kaymer, Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose and Lee Westwood,” said Olazabal.
“And my two picks to join and complete this team are Nicolas Colsaerts and Ian Poulter.
“Well, I think every one of you pretty much guessed that Ian was going to be there. That was a pretty good guess, not a difficult one, for obvious reasons.
“He’s had a great Ryder Cup record. He was playing well, he had some issues early in the season. He got ill and he couldn’t play as much as he could, but his attitude and his spirit in The Ryder Cup team has always been great. He’s one of those players that likes to be in that situation.
“I think he gets the best out of him playing The Ryder Cup. The two times I had the opportunity to share a few moments with him at Valhalla and Celtic Manor, you didn’t need to motivate him. He pretty much, you know, got ‑‑ just by looking at his eyes that he would give everything that he had during that week. So that’s Ian.
“And Nicolas, obviously he’s a rookie. If you look at the team, he’s going to be the only rookie on the team. We do have an experienced team. His match‑play record is very good. He finished runner‑up last year at The World Match Play. He won this year at The World Match Play.
“He’s had a very solid season, and on top of that, he’s made the extra effort trying to make the team. He really showed me that he wants to be a part of that team. Those are the reasons for me to pick him.”
The full make –up of the European Team is:
Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Francesco Molinari, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Peter Hanson, Martin Kaymer, Poulter and Colsaerts.
USA Captain, Davis Love 111 will announce his four ‘wildcard’ picks on September 4th in New York
