On Monday morning at 7 a.m. Eastern time, European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal will announce the two players he has hand-selected to round out his team heading to Chicago next month.
One of the two picks will almost certainly be Ian Poulter. Poulter has four top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this season, including three of them in major championships: T-3 at the PGA Championship, T-9 at the Open Championship and seventh at the Masters. The Englishman also has an 8-3-0 record in three appearances.
That leaves one pick to be made between, essentially, three players: long-hitting Belgian Colsaerts, Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello and three-time major winner Padraig Harrington.
Harrington is almost surely out, as Olazabal said earlier this week the Irishman would have to "at least" win to merit a pick. Though Olazabal denied this week a rules squabble from the 2003 Seve Trophy had an influence on his harsh stance on Harrington, the impossible bar Olazabal set seems to suggest Harrington never had a chance.
With Sergio Garcia making the team on points, Cabrera-Bello is likely out. There was no way the European side, with a Spanish captain, would lack a player from the golf powerhouse for the first time since continental Europe was included in the Ryder Cup.
That leaves Colsaerts. The bomber won the Volvo World Match Play Championship earlier this year. He would be a rookie on a team with few new faces. Colsaerts has eight top-10 finishes on the European Tour this season, but played in just three majors, making the cut in two (T-27 at the U.S. Open, T-7 at the Open Championship.)
Who do you think Olazabal should pick?
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