Monty gets his three wild cards

Published on Tuesday 12 May 2009 22:51

RYDER Cup captain Colin Montgomerie will be able to pick three players rather than two when Europe take on the USA at Celtic Manor in 2010 after a meeting of the European Tour's influential tournament committee held in Ireland decided to increase the number of wild card selections.

All of Europe's past captains over the past 14 years were granted just two selections while ten players earned spots in the team through an automatic qualification process. Now, in a change to the system agreed last night at County Louth, the captain will identify three wild cards with five players qualifying from the European rankings and four from the world table.

Montgomerie, 45, knows he has the chance to lead one of Europe's strongest ever sides in a bid to regain the trophy surrendered in Kentucky last year. There are currently eight Europeans – Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey, Robert Karlsson, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy – in the world's top 20 while 16 swell the top 50.

In the event some of those players fall through the cracks during qualifying, the Scot was keen to increase his options. Ideally, he would have preferred more, but will be glad to have slightly more room for manoeuvre than Nick Faldo enjoyed before Valhalla.

This time round, Montgomerie wanted four picks, the same number available to his American counterpart Corey Pavin. The committee members were not persuaded this change was necessary, even though statistical evidence proves wild card players usually accumulate more points in the match than those who scrape into the side through qualification.

In the three matches between 2004 and 2008, Europe's wild cards enjoyed a 70 per cent success rate and were almost twice as effective in securing points for the team as the lowest qualifiers.

Instead, the committee decided three wild cards would be an appropriate compromise, with the caveat one of the qualifying spots came off the world rankings rather than the European table which rewards commitment to those supporting the Race to Dubai. The 12 month qualifying period starts in September.