Thomas Bjorn - Ryder Cup Captain

What do we all think ?

Good - Bad - Indifferent ??

Great.

Indifferent, although I hope his beard meets with the boards approval or handbags will be drawn.

Seems like it was pretty much the only choice. Southgatesque?

I think he's got the respect of the players given his service to the tour, and for Mac, I can't see any players who could be picked with the accusation of being nepotism.

Super

After DC's deplorable effort as captain I can't see the nepotism strategy being copied any time soon.

Can you be a "good" captain and still lose the RC?

McLaren wrote:Super

After DC's deplorable effort as captain I can't see the nepotism strategy being copied any time soon.  

Bjorn seems the obvious choice to me.

Sr,
YES!

Shotrock wrote:Can you be a "good" captain and still lose the RC?

I don't think Love did much wrong in 2012. Same for Pavin (?) in 2010.

Like Mac, I wasn't impressed with Clarke as captain this year. But his team was massively inferior to the US. Would an inspirational captain like Langer or McGinley have done enough to win the cup... who knows?

Was there any doubt? I can't imagine who could have been a better choice for the Euro side.

Shotrock wrote:Can you be a "good" captain and still lose the RC?

Sure.... just like vou can be an average to poor captain and win it if you have the horses AND they make some putts.

McLaren wrote:Super

After DC's deplorable effort as captain I can't see the nepotism strategy being copied any time soon.  

Olesen is Bjorns little boy and has been driving his buggy on a few occasions. If Olesen doesn't end up being too far down the points lists he could easily be the nepotism pick.

Otherwise good choice in Bjorn. Fits the bill regardless of who else would be available. Buddies LW and Paddy as VCs, plus maybe one of the old captains like his other buddy DC.

It will be interesting to see whether Bjorn prioritizes winning it back over protecting the tour. I personally would keep the automatic qualification as it is and then allow the Captains Picks to pick from ALL european players whether they are playing on the European tour or not. Now I am not saying we would have won with Casey and Knox but I would have liked our chances a whole lot more.

Sounds like the perfect compromise that Hogie.

John Rahm for instance is unlikely to be on both tours, but could be a very good pick come then.

Makes sense that wild cards can be wild?

I think it's more than likely that x captains picks can be from all tours. Probably not all 3 picks but likely 1 or 2..

pedro wrote:Makes sense that wild cards can be wild?

I think it's more than likely that x captains picks can be from all tours. Probably not all 3 picks but likely 1 or 2..

Agree it's "more" likely... just not sure it's actually likely though... Hope it is though, IMO the ET side would be better served by at least having the option of the best Euro's available. Problem is if they make it too many non-ET eligible players (which is probably any more than one)... then less and less incentive to be ET member for the Rahm's, Casey's and Knox's... and maybe even more of the current Dual-Tour guys....

If they open the team up to ONE non-European member, there is a great chance that one pick will go to Rory McIlroy.

IMO, there is only one reason why Rory is still a member of the Euro Tour.

How long did Rory commit to the Irish Open? That should be a pretty good indication. Otherwise the ET can always default to Lex Rory.

Don't ever think they'd design a non-tour pick to be wasted on Rory.

Maybe one of the picks could go to a non-European?



GPB

Almost agree that there is only one reason Rory is still a member of the European tour but the Rolex series has pretty much been created for the double dippers so lets just wait and see how the double dippers respond to that. The double dippers probably have some sentimental thoughts about playing in Europe and will only like the idea more if there are a better selection of top events to play in.

GPB wrote:If they open the team up to ONE non-European member, there is a great chance that one pick will go to Rory McIlroy.

IMO, there is only one reason why Rory is still a member of the Euro Tour.

Not too long ago I would have agreed with you on all this. But this is one thing I give the past ET leadership credit for... getting Rory directly involved with the operation of the Irish Open. IMO he's now as handcuffed to the ET in a PR sense via his I.O. role as he is by the RC membership requirement.

There is no REAL reason why Rory couldn't continue to host the Irish Open.

Other than EuroTour policy.

MontysMerkin wrote:Indifferent, although I hope his beard meets with the boards approval or handbags will be drawn.

I sense beard angst here, paranoia even. Monty you don't currently have a beard do you? But you tried it, didn't you? And it didn't go down well, a few disparaging comments about pathetic bumfluff and out came the razor. It's ok, let it all out.

GPB wrote:There is no REAL reason why Rory couldn't continue to host the Irish Open.

Other than EuroTour policy.

Sure there is... if he didn't maintain his ET membership while hosting the Irish... he'd be eviscerated in the European press and ET fans, which would be damaging to his brand methinks.

raycastleunited wrote:

MontysMerkin wrote:Indifferent, although I hope his beard meets with the boards approval or handbags will be drawn.

I sense beard angst here, paranoia even. Monty you don't currently have a beard do you? But you tried it, didn't you? And it didn't go down well, a few disparaging comments about pathetic bumfluff and out came the razor. It's ok, let it all out.

No, no beard here. My mum said it looked ok but the headmaster said it was a bit iffy. When I get to big school I'll try again.

MontysMerkin wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:

MontysMerkin wrote:Indifferent, although I hope his beard meets with the boards approval or handbags will be drawn.

I sense beard angst here, paranoia even. Monty you don't currently have a beard do you? But you tried it, didn't you? And it didn't go down well, a few disparaging comments about pathetic bumfluff and out came the razor. It's ok, let it all out.

No, no beard here. My mum said it looked ok but the headmaster said it was a bit iffy. When I get to big school I'll try again.

Stay with the merkin...