Pavin's Picks Roundup
Jason Sobel believes it came down to rounding out the team with names that meshed with the qualifiers.
Nick Watney? Sean O'Hair? J.B. Holmes? Bo Van Pelt? All good players. That's right -- good, not great. Even recent Deutsche Bank Championship winner Charley Hoffman can't be too upset about being overlooked, considering he was 57th on the points list when it ended three weeks ago.
When previous U.S. captain Paul Azinger retooled the Ryder Cup qualification process prior to the last edition of the event, expanding from two wild-card selections to four, he immediately made this part of the role not only twice as difficult, but twice as important, too.
More than ever before, the onus is on the skipper to ensure that one-third of his roster blends with the already-qualified participants.
His ESPN colleague Bob Harig was even more pointed in analyzing the Fowler selection.
The team has a good mixture of veterans and youngsters (he brings to five the number of rookies out of 12 players) but one of the automatic qualifiers was sticking out: Bubba Watson.
He and Fowler are buddies; they hang out a good bit at tour events, including practice rounds. They know each other well and might just be a goofy enough tandem to make for a good pairing, let alone provide some team levity.
Pavin said it was more about a "feeling," but perhaps it became more of a practical matter. Besides, who else would have been better to take?
The SI roundtable covered all elements of the selections, but Michael Bamberger had the boldest statement.
Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Maybe Jim Gray had it right when he quoted Pavin as saying, "Of course Tiger is going to make the team." Still, it's a shock to see the great Tiger Woods being reduced to a captain's pick. As a pro, Fowler has done little to earn this spot, and that tells you where American golf is right now.
Jeff Rude liked the Fowler pick.
If Pavin rolled the dice, it was on Fowler because of the young man’s uneven play this year, from high to low. But I like the captain’s hunch here. Fowler attacks, and you want that in match play. He starred on two Walker Cup teams. He played well at the British Open. Vocal crowds on European soil won’t rattle him.
John Strege, not so much.
Fowler is 21, a PGA Tour rookie who hasn't won, who was 20th in Ryder Cup points, who hasn't had a top 10 finish in three months (since the Memorial), who in his last four tournaments, all with world class fields, has finished tied for 33rd, tied for 58th, tied for 36th and tied for 41st.
"Obviously he's deserving," Pavin said at a news conference at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
It wasn't obvious at all. Has there ever been a captain's pick with less to show, on paper, at least?
Adam Schupak makes the case for Anthony Kim over Fowler.
It also should be noted that Kim finished ninth in the standings, and didn’t get bounced from the top-8 automatic qualifiers until the PGA Championship, the final point-counting event. Pavin chose Zach Johnson (No. 11), Tiger Woods (No. 12), Stewart Cink (No. 14), and Rickie Fowler (No. 20).
Kim still would’ve had 24 days to heal his thumb and find his game. I consider him the type of player who rises to the occasion, the way Garcia suddenly starts holing putts in the heat of the Ryder Cup battle. Make no mistake: It would’ve been a riskier pick than Stewart Cink (who is suffering a classic post-first-major slump), but isn’t that why they call them wild-card picks?
And Alex Miceli believes Pavin's picks reflect a very different approach compared to the last captain.
If Pavin’s picks proved anything, it’s that he is his own man and will not follow the same philosophy of predecessor Paul Azinger just because it worked at Valhalla.
The fact that the Deutsche Bank Championship did not affect his picks, that he didn’t pick the only American not on the team who won in the past three weeks and only one of his four picks won this year proves he will follow his own drummer into Wales.
“There’s a point where I have to make a call on who I think can handle the pressure over there,” Pavin said. “Obviously Zach, Stewart and Tiger have played overseas, and Rickie has not obviously played the Ryder Cup overseas, but it came down to a judgment call on all those guys to see in my own opinion if they can go over there, play well and help the team be a better team.”
Randall Mell talks to J.B. Holmes, who thought he deserved to be picked.
“I wanted to be on that team,” Holmes said while hitting balls on the practice range Tuesday at Cog Hill.
Holmes said his heart rate elevated when he saw his cell phone light up with Pavin’s name near 10 p.m. Monday. He thought he had a good chance of being one of Pavin’s picks.
“I’ve played good all year,” Holmes said. “I had a bunch of top-20 finishes and some top 10s. I’ve only missed two cuts. It’s been a good year for me, so it’s disappointing.”
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 02:19 PM
Reader Comments (6)
Too bad it's not a Ricky Bobby connection.
Sobel: The use of the term great players. 9 time out of 10 a captain's pick is not an immortal to A- player. A captain pick is a hair-split, that's why they are wild cards, which make the discussion so interesting.
Harig reported Watson and Fowler being buddies: Only a reporter would know something like that and reveal it to the public. This is Pavin's baby, doesn't mean he can't use a piece of the "POD" system and use it for his process.
Bamberger: "Fowler has done little to earn this spot, which shows you where American golf is right now"
Ever since Ballesteros and Norman arrived in the late 70s, early 80s--American dominance for having almost all the top players on tour ended.
In 2008, their was even more hand-wringing about the state of American golf and captain's pick's candidates. In the end Mahan and Holmes made big contributions , Stricker a few putts and Campbell was the one clinker.
Adam Schupak argument for Kim. I'm partial to Kim myself, if he stays healthy he's appears to have a big future ahead of him. But 4 missed cuts upon his return couldn't be ignored. Cink is one of those steady players, apparently well-liked, who can be effective in alternate shot. A security blanket sort of player that captains feel at least won't hurt them as opposed to the high risk game of Kim rounding into form in the next 2 weeks.
Alex Miceli: If Pavin's picks proved anything he is his own man and won't follow the philosophy of Azinger just because it worked at Valhalla.
None of us can be sure of that one way or the other. Pavin like most captain's didn't reveal much but:
I would like them to have knowledge of potentially who they will be playing with, certainly before we go over to Wales.
It's not going to guarantee that they are going to be playing with that person, but I want them to have a short list of guys that they can communicate, talk with, understand and get to know better if they need to.
One could read this statement and see it going back the old ways where players suggested but Pavin wrote down the final slate. He doesn't seem to be applying a specified PODS.
But looked at another way he may be using modified PODS. That is to say some PODS might be "yellow light" pairs that he might veto and he may not being guaranteeing not pulling players out of PODS depending on the results.
Azinger said he wouldn't unless of illness or injury. Pavin may be simply not giving up that authority, but still partially using personality profiles. Also the Captain's picks: Lehman (aggressive), Goydos (influencer), Love (steady) and Sluman ( steadu-- and has been an assistant with Nicklaus on many President's Cups.
All interesting stuff to speculate on.
JB Holmes: T2nd Pebble Beach, T3rd Riviera. Missed 2 cuts in 22 starts.
Stats: 307 yrds driving distance, 65.01 GIR% (138th), putt avg: 1.763 (42nd), birdie avg. 3.86 (18th), Scoring avg: 69.86 (3rd). Scrambling 64.27%
Holmes can get hot and have a torrid scoring streak. Also for such a long hitter, he's got the short game around the greens to be a solid scrambler.