Where do you stand on Paul Casey?
Can the world number eight consider himself desperately unlucky to have missed out on a Ryder Cup pick? Or has his casual approach to qualifying been met by the appropriate response from Europe's captain Colin Montgomerie?
The 33-year-old was close to tears on Sunday, after Monty opted for Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Edoardo Molinari as his three wild cards at Celtic Manor in October.
Molinari is in red-hot form, and the chance to put he and Francesco together in the Ryder Cup brotherhood was too good to miss - especially after the Italian's dramatic charge to victory at Gleneagles.
And so it came down to two from Justin Rose, Harrington, Donald and Casey.
The argument for Casey's inclusion, on form at least, was a strong one. He finished runner-up at the WGC-Matchplay for the second year running, T3 at The Open and T12 at the US PGA Championship.
Those are three high-quality fields, on three very different tracks. And success at the matchplay said much of his Ryder Cup credentials.
Add to that his world ranking of ninth at the time of Monty's decision, on the back of a consistent season cherry-picking tournaments on both sides of the Atlantic, and you'd have put your money on Casey getting the nod.
The argument against him ran like this: Casey has turned his back too often on his home tour to chase cash in America, and clearly doesn't value the Ryder Cup as highly as he might. There's also his performance in the last Ryder Cup at Valhalla to consider, where he collected just two halves from three matches as a wild card and took his all-time record to 3-2-4 (w-d-l).
Then there's the speculation he is not the most popular player in the locker
room. Here's how Lawrence Donegan put things in the Guardian this morning: "The unkind truth is the Englishman is very unpopular amongst his peers, in much the same way the former Chelsea and England full-back Graeme Le Saux was not terribly popular with his fellow players."
But if making the Ryder Cup your priority was the criteria, how can Monty justify picking Harrington and Donald, both of whom were in the field in New Jersey - and not at the Johnnie Walker?
Monty validated Harrington's pick by citing his three majors - overlooking three missed cuts from four this year, and the fact he's not won since the 2008 US PGA Championship.
As for Donald, his Ryder Cup record possibly gave him the edge. Five wins from
seven matches is an impressive return.
Rose also came with form, having won twice alongside Ian Poulter at Valhalla and beaten Phil Mickelson in the singles. But it always looked as though he'd just miss out.
The big battle was between Casey and Harrington, and whatever Monty's reasoning for choosing the Irishman, it's hard not feel sympathy for Casey - who may well have missed out for the oldest reason of them all.
His face simply didn't fit.
Date published :
01 Sep 2010 - 10:44:34
