Darren Clarke felt Russell Knox’s disappointment at missing out on the Ryder Cup team because he’s experienced it himself.
The Northern Irishman admitted to lost sleep deliberating over his final choice of three wildcards for Hazletine, which came down to Belgium’s Thomas Pieters against Scotland’s Knox after he’d already decided on Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer.
In the end, it was edged to Pieters, whom the captain played with in Denmark at the weekend as the 24-year-old was on his way to a memorable victory, but he empathised with Knox.
“I knew what a disappointment to him it would be because I remember 2008, when I won the next to last tournament before selection and wasn’t picked,” said the captain, speaking after his announcement at Wentworth.
“Making that call really is the hardest part of the job. It wasn’t a long conversation but he was a gentleman.”
Clarke agreed that many will think that the Inverness man – ranked 20th in the world, higher than any of the three wildcard picks – should have been selected.
“Some will say he deserved the pick, I have to make that call on what I believe to be right,” continued Clarke. “If you don’t make the team automatically you’re at the mercy of the captain’s thoughts, that’s the hard facts of it.
“My focus after 2008 was to play on the next team. You go through the history of the RC and see plenty people in Russell’s position.
“Some people will say, what if his points for winning the HSBC (the WGC event in Shanghai last year, which Knox won before he was a member of the European Tour) had counted but the fact is that they didn’t.”
Clarke hinted clearly that the selection of Pieters was down to his big-hitting power – Knox is much shorter off the tee – and the necessities of what they face at Hazeltine.
“That fact Thomas hits it 340 yards, the longest hitter in our team, plays into it,” he said. “There’s so much more than just him versus him, it’s how they play the game and all the stats, where the percentage of their misses are, matching them up with the course.
“It was very difficult between Russell and Thomas, both have played phenomenally, but I went on form and Thomas showed me just a little bit more.”
Pieters is a potential World No 1, a major winner, in Clarke’s opinion.
“I’ve seen massive talent before, I played with Tiger (Woods) as an amateur at the 1996 Open, seen Rory (McIlroy) since he was a young kid,” he continued. “Thomas is in the same league with those guys, he has that amount of talent.
“I said all along I was reticent to pick a rookie. I was looking toward Luke (Donald) and GMac (Graeme McDowell) but unfortunately they don’t quite have the form we know they can have, so I had to go back to the rookies and choose between Russell and Thomas. One was going to be disappointed.”
The captain has been “scribbling possible pairings for a year and a half” but expects to change his mind right up until the last moment.
“All the other captains have told me they went to the venue with pairings in mind and changed once they got there,” he said. “We have six rookies, putting two together (in a pairing) is a big call. I may be forced into it but ideally it’s not a scenario you’d want to find yourself in.
“But if it is the case, I have a massive amount of belief in the guys we have. One of the rookies is the Masters champion, the others have won tournaments all over the world.”
Adding Kaymer and Westwood gave the balance he required, he continued.
“The experienced guys will do what we do in the European way by looking after the first-time guys, it’s what we do,” he said.
“Making the picks is not just about stats or the rankings, form is important but it’s not just about that. If it was the case you’d just go straight down the rankings and pick from that, but that’s not the European way, it’s about getting the right mix.”
