America’s Ryder Cup captain will have an in-form team to help him defeat Europe

More than for any other event in golf, seemingly endless and invariably pointless conjecture is a huge part of every Ryder Cup. And this next one has been no different.

There has, as usual, been no escape, not least because major-less Monty just won’t shut up about the biennial contest and his apparently Churchillian contribution to the Old World cause. Almost from the moment Graeme McDowell so memorably sealed victory for Europe at Celtic Manor two years ago, the build-up to next month at Medinah – an often potent and volatile mix of speculation, anticipation, prediction, rumour and innuendo – took over.

But thankfully all of that nonsense is almost done. Something real is, at last, about to happen. While we have to wait until 27 August to know the exact make-up of the 12-strong European side that will defend the trophy over the last three days of September, by tonight two-thirds of the American squad will be confirmed. As soon as the USPGA Championship at Kiawah Island is concluded, the top eight points scorers on the US qualifying list will be transformed into automatic qualifiers (non-playing captain Davis Love’s four wildcard picks will be announced in New York on 4 September).

Still, for all that the end of the process is near for our colonial cousins, a lot can potentially happen between now and the sight of someone holding aloft the gigantic Wanamaker Trophy. With two points awarded for every $1,000 earned at Kiawah – and first place worth a cool $1,445,000 – there is clearly scope for change within a top eight that currently reads: Tiger Woods (5,727 points), Jason Dufner (5,593), Bubba Watson (5,528), Keegan Bradley (4,782), Webb Simpson (4,635), Zach Johnson (4,461), Matt Kuchar (4,448) and Phil Mickelson (4,163).

Even more relevant perhaps is the large number of players who can still force their way into the squad. Albeit through an increasingly unlikely series of scenarios, as many as 28 players – down to Charley Hoffman (1,285) in 36th spot – could be lining up in Chicago. Don’t get too excited though, the likelihood is that the current top five or so are pretty safe, with maybe the last couple of places up for grabs.

Plus, given that positions nine, ten and 11 are presently taken up by World Match Play champion Hunter Mahan (he of the crucial duffed chip two years ago) and the vastly experienced duo of Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk – all of whom are almost certain to get wildcard nods if required – and that another obvious sure thing-pick, Mickelson, is the most likely to drop out of the automatic octet, the odds are heavily in favour of captain Love having to make only one real pick come 4 September. If the top 11 stays as it is right now, that probably means a straight choice between Rickie Fowler (currently 12th) and Dustin Johnson (14th). Anyone else would have to be classed as at least a minor surprise.

Love, as you would expect, was giving little away beyond the above summation when he sat down for a pre-championship press conference with his opposing number, Jose Maria Olazabal. Amazingly(!), he intends to look at those men who are playing well.

“I’ve said several times, I’ll be plugging holes with my selection, matching pairings, things like that,” he said. “Obviously if Steve [Stricker] was on the outside, we have a guy [Tiger] who likes to play with him. So that’s a lock.

“So I’ll look at things like that. I want some hot putters. I might want another long‑ball hitter. That’s what I’m looking for. That’s what happened last time with Rickie, he kind of got hot at the end and was cocky with the putter. So he got picked. I would like to catch somebody that’s hot this week and the next two tournaments they play.”

As for the minutiae of the matches themselves, Love has already revealed that the first morning series of fixtures will be foursomes rather than fourballs, which was the case at Celtic Manor. There was no deep, meaningful reason, however.

“I just wanted to do it differently to Colin [Montgomerie] because he won,” he said with a smile. “Plus, it is easier to make pairings the night before and it’s easier to match up guys for a best-ball [fourball] team when play is already going on.

“So there wasn’t a whole lot of strategy involved, other than it seems to work logistically. Alternate-shot [foursomes] goes quicker and gives you more time to plan the afternoon pairings.”

Although he was keen to play if qualified automatically, one thing Love will definitely not be doing is picking Davis Love. Currently 45th in the standings, that remains his only way into what would be his seventh Ryder Cup appearance as a player. Interestingly, back at the Belfry in 1993, the first three games Love played in America’s colours were all against Olazabal. Love and Tom Kite, in fact, are one of only two US pairings to emerge victorious from a Ryder Cup match with the famed combination of Olazabal and the late Seve Ballesteros.

“Picking myself would be too much pressure,” confirmed Love, pictured right. “If I pick, say, Keegan Bradley, he’s going to have a lot of pressure on him because he hasn’t played before. That’s enough. If I picked myself, I’d have an incredible amount of pressure on me to perform.

“We did try to talk Tom Kite into playing when he was captain back in 1997. Justin Leonard won the Open and I won the [US] PGA, which just bumped Tom from the team. So he was playing well and we knew he was playing well. We tried to convince him, but he wouldn’t do it. I see his position now. One, it’s fun to be captain. And two, it would just be too much pressure to play as well.”

The really good news for Love is that his “guys” have recently been performing consistently better than their counterparts. Unless a European wins at Kiawah tonight, the visitors will defend the little gold trophy without a current major champion in their squad. The Americans, in contrast, will have at least two, Masters winner Bubba Watson and US Open champion Webb Simpson. Then again, such things may or may not mean anything. Back in ’97, the Americans arrived at Valderrama complete with three major champions and, in Love’s words, “got pounded”. Still, better to arrive in confident mood.

“Our men have been playing great,” acknowledged Love. “We do have two major champions and Matt [Kuchar] won the Players Championship. That is very exciting. And that’s what I need them to do in the Ryder Cup. I need them to putt like Monty. He always seemed to make every putt in the Ryder Cup and that’s what I’m looking for – guys who are confident and ready to go. And it seems like a lot of them have been doing that already this year.”

So, all in all, things are looking nicely positive for the American captain. Barring anything too weird and wonderful this week, Love will pitch up at Medinah with pretty much the 12-man side he would surely have picked himself. It’s not going to be easy for Ollie and his boys.