Sport

World ranking to count towards Ryder selection

GOLF: The adage, admittedly an American one, of "if it ain't broken, don't fix it", obviously doesn't apply to the European …

By Philip Reid in Hamburg
Thu May 15 2003 - 01:00

GOLF: The adage, admittedly an American one, of "if it ain't broken, don't fix it", obviously doesn't apply to the European Tour.

Despite Europe regaining the Ryder Cup at the Belfry last September - which constituted the third time in four stagings that they claimed the most prized team trophy in golf - the anticipated change in the qualifying process for next year's match in Detroit has finally materialised.

Rather than the top 10 players being selected from a Ryder Cup qualifying table based on points (euro) earned on the European Tour in a 12-month period, with two "wild cards" selected by the team captain, it has been decided to change to a process that will see five players qualifying through world ranking points with a further five places via the traditional Ryder Cup points list based on the European Order of Merit. The two additional players will remain the captain's wild cards.

The front runners for the captaincy of the European team at Oakland Hills in Michigan from September 17th-19th next year are Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam, who was a vice-captain to Sam Torrance last year. Torrance's successor will be announced in July.

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This anticipated change will allow players who compete in tournaments which are not part of the European Tour, but which carry world ranking points, to enhance their prospects of qualifying through that route. The leading five players from the official world rankings based on total points gained between this year's European Masters and the 2004 NEC Invitational at Firestone will qualify. The Ryder Cup points table will run for a further week, to the BMW in Munich, from the same starting point in Switzerland.

Richard Hills, the Ryder Cup director of the European Tour, said: "We're aware that our members play in many countries on different tours . . . and this system ensures the Ryder Cup team continues to be both competitive and representative of the talent at Europe's disposal."

Last year, Torrance gave wild card selections to Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik, who would both have qualified under their own steam in the world rankings.