Paul McGinley finalizes the European Ryder Cup team with Stephen Gallacher, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter

Paul McGinley took the stage at Wentworth on Tuesday to announce his three wild-card picks for the 2014 Ryder Cup, and the picks just added to the stacked lineup that will go up against the Americans later this month.

McGinley went with Stephen Gallacher, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood with his three available picks, surprising some by leaving Luke Donald off the team, but bringing in three men that have either had success at this event in the past, or have played great golf this season.

Gallacher, a rookie for McGinley, might be a surprise name to some, but he has played fantastic golf this season. In his last six starts on the European Tour, Gallacher has finished in the top-15 four times including a clutch T-3 last week in Italy that included a final round 65, much-needed in terms of Ryder Cup consideration (a T-2 would have automatically qualified him for the team, so it was literally down to one shot for the 39-year-old).

Poulter and Westwood have been stalwarts at this event over the years, with Poulter rocking a 12-3-0 record while Westwood is 18-13-6 in eight appearances.

These three join Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Victor Dubuisson, Jamie Donaldson, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, Thomas Bjorn, and Graeme McDowell as the team that will represent Europe later this month at Gleneagles.

How good is this European team? Not a single player is outside the top-38 in the world rankings, with four of the top-5 in the world on this team, so on paper, it’s this European team that looks to be the favorite to win their sixth Ryder Cup in the last seven events.

Tom Watson will make his American picks on Tuesday afternoon, with most thinking it will be some combination of Hunter Mahan, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Chris Kirk and Ryan Moore.

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