Ryder Cup 2023 analysis: Europe's lucky man given his form, Adrian Meronk snub and team's new era

The cards are now all on the table for the 44th Ryder Cup in Rome later this month, with both captains having made big calls among their matching six picks for the eagerly-awaited contest at Marco Simone Golf Club.

Adrian Meronk, pictured being congratulated by his Scottish caddie Stuart Beck, will not be returning to the scene of his DS Automobiles Italian Open win earlier in the year after missing out on a captain's pick for the 44th Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome. Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty Images.

In US skipper Zach Johnson’s case, his decision to select an out-of-form Justin Thomas ahead of recent two-time PGA Tour winner Lucas Glover and other strong candidates in Keegan Bradley and Cam Young has definitely raised some eyebrows.

As has European counterpart Luke Donald’s call to overlook Adrian Meronk at the expense of either Ludvig Aberg, Nicolai Hojgaard or Shane Lowry because there is no doubt about the Pole being the unlucky man for the latest edition of the biennial bout.

Meronk had won three times since last July, including an Italian Open victory over the Ryder Cup course on the outskirts of the Italian capital back in May. Add in five other top-ten finishes in the year-long qualifying campaign - he currently sits third behind Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm in this season’s Race to Dubai - and the 30-year-old did just about everything he could to prove his worth.

There’s always a danger, though, of someone being overlooked if they fail to qualify automatically and that’s why Bob MacIntyre was so relieved to tie down his spot before it came to Donald and his vice captains making their final decision because, otherwise, he could easily have been in Meronk’s shoes.

So, why has Donald gone with Aberg, Hojgaard and Lowry instead of Meronk? For starters, even though Meronk holed the winning putt in the inaugural Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi earlier in the year, there was obviously something about his statistics from that causing a nagging doubt in the mind of the European captain or, alternatively, something he’d spotted during the course of playing with him during the qualifying phase.

In contrast, the Hero Cup played a huge part in Hojgaard securing his pick for Rome, having been the star performer statistically in the Middle East after being drafted into the Continental Europe team as a late replacement for his twin brother, Rasmus, and recording five top-ten finishes on the DP World Tour since then. One of those came in the Italian Open, an event he also won on the Ryder Cup course in 2012.

The 22-year-old is by no means a crazy pick and neither, of course, is Aberg. I’ll hold my hands up and admit I still didn’t see him making this Ryder Cup team as recently as a fortnight ago, even though, along with lots of others, he’d certainly caught my eye in becoming the amateur world No 1 then making a strong start to his professional career over the summer.

Yes, he was a contender heading into the final qualifying event in Switzerland last week, but it needed something special with his last throw of the dice and, boy, did Aberg deliver, picking up four shots in the last five holes to land a stunning maiden success in just his ninth start in the paid ranks. The 23-year-old hasn’t yet played in a major and will be the only player other than Sergio Garcia to play in the Ryder Cup in the first year as a professional, but, on the evidence so far, he won’t be fazed in the slightest by that additional pressure.

Based purely on form, Lowry is a lucky man to have made it, having not recorded a top-ten finish on either the DP World Tour or PGA Tour since February and missing the cut in two of his last three outings. But, in the words of Donald, he’s “someone who is made for the big occasions in golf” and that, of course, is reference to his 2019 Open victory in particular but also a WGC win, as well as holding off both McIlroy and Rahm to land last year’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

As will be the case with Thomas on the US team, Lowry will head into the match on 29 September-1 October with a point to prove and, helped by the experience from his debut at Whistling Straits two years ago, the Irishman can certainly go out there and vindicate the faith in him. Also, having grown up watching Gaelic football, team sport is in his blood, so let’s not be fooled into underestimating his potential value, off the course as well as on it.

Having now won twice on the PGA Tour and recorded top-ten finishes in both the PGA Championship and The Open this season, Sepp Straka’s selection was a no-brainer for me, as was the decision to hand Justin Rose a sixth appearance against the Americans. He was brilliant for Paul McGinley at Gleneagles in 2014 and, still feeling a bit hurt about missing out two years ago, the Englishman will be determined to be part of a fourth triumphant team.

For clarification, Europe’s full line up is McIroy, Rahm, MacIntyre, Aberg, Hojgaard, Rose, Lowry, Straka, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood while Thomas will join forces with Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler, Brian Harman, Max Homa, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spiehth in the US team.

According to the bookmakers, the US are slight favourites and rightly so on the back of the 19-9 hammering they dished out at Whistling Straits two years ago, but, based purely on the players and nothing else, it seems likely the Americans have been impacted more than the Europeans due to the LIV Golf factor, with neither Dustin Johnson or Bryson DeChambeau making the team on this occasion.

With or without LIV Golf, the time had come for a new era to be heralded for Europe in this event and, in Aberg, Hojgaard, MacIntyre and Straka, Donald certainly has a talented group at his disposal, as well as an abundance of world-class players in the other eight.