European Tour head signals potential change to Ryder Cup process

Changes could be coming to the process by which the European Tour picks their 12 players for the Ryder Cup.

After the Europeans lost by a 17-11 margin at Hazeltine National in early October — the Europeans’ worst loss in 35 years — several players, including Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood, called for changes to how players made the team. Much of the brush back centered on the fact that Paul Casey and Russell Knox were not on the team.

Casey, in particular, was not able to be on the team because he is not a European Tour member, a prerequisite that the Tour sets as, in part, an act of self-preservation. However, on the No Laying Up podcast, McIlroy re-asserted an idea he put forth in September before the matches: that Europe should pick its 12 best players based on the Official World Golf Ranking and line them up against the 12 best from the U.S., however they choose to field a team.

For his part, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley, who hasn’t been shy about shaking up things on the tour, expressed an openness to changing the selection process.

“We are having discussion regarding the qualification system now and we will continue to have them,” Pelley said this week at the Turkish Airlines Open, the first of three events in the European Tour season-ending Final Series.

“We will adjust the Ryder Cup qualification if we feel that we need to. We won’t be afraid to make the changes.”

The discussions around potential changes could unfold in earnest before Christmas when Pelley meets with the last three Ryder Cup captains, including losing 2016 captain Darren Clarke, as well as player representative Henrik Stenson to begin the process of selecting the 2018 captain for Paris.

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports

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