The players on the American points list from 12 through 22 are essentially equal. You can make arguments for any of them. Pavin could have chosen anyone from among those players and been "right." Given that, his choices are good, safe picks.
Tiger was always going to be selected, assuming he didn't tell Pavin not to pick him. Johnson and Cink are steady veterans who've won big tournaments and have Ryder Cup experience. Fowler is the exciting, buzz-worthy wildcard.
Some might wonder why Charley Hoffman - who shot 62 in the final round yesterday to win the Deutsche Bank Championship - didn't get a call. But his case is very different from that of Team Europe's Edoardo Molinari, who won the last tournament before Euro captain Colin Montgomerie's wildcard picks. Molinari has been one of the best players in golf in 2010. Hoffman hasn't. Even after his win at the Deutsche Bank, Hoffman was only No. 57 on the American Ryder Cup points list - 10 spots behind Pavin - and he failed to qualify for any of the four majors in 2010.
In selecting Tiger, Zach, Cink and Fowler, Pavin passed over, among others, Anthony Kim, Bo Van Pelt, J.B. Holmes, Sean O'Hair, Nick Watney, Lucas Glover, Ryan Palmer, Ben Crane and Ricky Barnes. Pavin didn't have too many candidates, he had too few standouts.
Monty's problem was too many standouts. With his three captain's picks, Monty chose Padraig Harrington, Edoardo Molinari and Luke Donald, bypassing Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Robert Karlsson and Carl Pettersson, among others.
Which leads to our poll:
Comments
So, here we go again!
Selecting Tiger to the team is both embarrassing and unfair to the game golf.
The big question is whether Rickie will get a haircut and/or wear a normal sized hat.
I totally agree with the Lee. Selecting tiger to the team was unfair to the opponent team because tiger is genius in this game.