Having had to make difficult decisions as to whom he wanted to pick as his wildcards for the 2010 Ryder Cup, Colin Montgomerie has now redirected the pressure he was under on to US team captain Corey Pavin.
With Monty making the controversial decision to include Padraig Harrington, a man who has done anything but shine in previous Ryder Cups, he has left himself open to criticism from European fans should he fail to win back the Ryder Cup from the US.
However, whilst Harrington may have shown himself to be an underperformer at golf’s most high-profile event in the past, Pavin has a far more difficult choice to make and that is whether or not to pick the once mighty Tiger Woods.
Whilst Woods is still world number one (courtesy of the inability of perennial world number two, Phil Mickleson, to make that crucial final step of overtaking Tiger), he is certainly not playing like it. Having endured a terrible year on and off the golf course, Woods has failed to earn himself an automatic place on the US team.
With US golf fans and Ryder Cup betting pundits deep in debate as to whether he is worth the risk of a wildcard pick from Pavin, many pundits have suggested that the decision not to pick Woods would be a massive mistake from the American captain. However, any decision to pick the player would leave Pavin with a lot of explaining to do in order to justify why he wished to pick an individual so clearly out of form, with the same chance unlikely to be offered to any other player.
With the US team desperate to gain any advantage they can find in their battle to keep hold of the trophy they regained from the Europeans back in 2008, Pavin knows that his wildcard picks will have a massive effect on the US team’s Ryder Cup Odds.
Filed under: Golf Tagged: | Colin Montgomerie, Corey Pavin, Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Ryder Cup, Tiger Woods
