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Harrington announced the 12 members of the team on Sunday
following the conclusion of the BMW PGA Championship at
Wentworth Club in Surrey, England, the final tournament to
determine the automatic qualifiers and the captain's picks.
With his captain's picks, Harrington chose Ryder Cup veterans
Sergio Garcia of Spain and Ian Poulter of England along with
Ireland's Shane Lowry, who will be making his event debut.
Left off the team was Justin Rose of England, who has played in
the past four Ryder Cups for Europe.
Harrington said he selected Garcia and Poulter for their
abilities but also for their leadership. Garcia is Team Europe's
all-time points scorer in Ryder Cup play, and Poulter will be
playing in his seventh event.
As for Lowry, who won The Open Championship in 2019, Harrington
said he earned his first opportunity.
"Nobody thinks of him as a rookie," Harrington said. "Shane is a
big-time player. He's not better than when he's on the big-time
stage."
Entering Sunday, Harrington knew five of the players who would
be traveling to Wisconsin but had to await the results of the
tournament to determine four more automatic qualifiers. They
turned out to be 11-time Team Europe member Lee Westwood of
England and 35-year-old Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, a Ryder Cup
rookie. They were joined by Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton and
Matthew Fitzpatrick, who had all but wrapped up their spots.
Players who previously had secured their positions were world
No. 1 Jon Rahm of Spain, Tommy Fleetwood and Paul Casey of
England, Viktor Hovland of Norway and Rory McIlroy of Northern
Ireland.
This will be the first Ryder Cup for Hovland.
"I have a great team," Harrington said. "Probably the best ball
strikers Europe have ever had in a Ryder Cup."
U.S. captain Steve Stricker might disagree about who has the
better squad. His team has nine of the top 11 ranked players in
the world.
The U.S. will be attempting to regain the Ryder Cup, which
Europe won 17 1/2 to 10 1/2 in 2018 at Le Golf National in
Paris. The delayed 2020 Ryder Cup will be held Sept. 24-26 on
American turf again in rural Wisconsin, along the shore of Lake
Michigan.
Team USA consists of automatic qualifiers Collin Morikawa,
Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas
and Patrick Cantlay, along with captains picks Jordan Spieth,
Harris English, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Daniel Berger and
Scottie Scheffler.
--Field Level Media
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