Francesco Molinari moved a step closer this week to again landing a spot on the Medinah-bound European Ryder Cup team.
European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal will pull 10 automatic qualifiers from two separate points lists. The top 5 players on the European Points List after the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles will make the team.
Top 5 after the Open de France (points in parentheses):
1. Rory McIlroy (2,620,352.00)
2. Justin Rose (2,058,194.30)
3. Paul Lawrie (2,000,934.94)
4. Graeme McDowell (1,951,181.29)
5. Martin Kaymer (1,785,352.80)
This list remains unchanged.
The next five players will be the highest five on the World Points List not already on the team. Currently, that handful of players would consist of the following in order of their position on the list (points in parentheses):
2. Luke Donald (324.26)
3. Lee Westwood (277.72)
7. Peter Hanson (168.46)
9. Sergio Garcia (155.58)
10. Francesco Molinari (149.49)
Colsaerts dropped out of the top five in European points and the automatic 10, replaced by Franceso Molinari.
Olazabal will finalize his team by making two picks. Here are some players not currently inside the top five of either points list who deserve consideration:
- Nicolas Colsaerts: Knocked from the top 10 automatic qualifiers, the long hitter deserves a look for lengthy Medinah.
- Marcel Siem: Jumping to 15th in European points with his French Open win, the German may make a late charge.
- Ian Poulter: Poulter jumped to 23rd in European points, more importantly showing form at Le Golf National with a T-4 finish.
- Thomas Bjorn: Bjorn finished T-8 at the BMW International Open, but hasn't played since.
- Padraig Harrington: Harrington finished T-7 at the Irish Open, then took the week off.
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