In the Rough

US Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger has picked Chad Campbell, Steve Stricker, JB Holmes and Hunter Mahan have been given the four US wildcard picks.

The four of them failed to make the automatic spots but have been given the nod by Paul Azinger for the match against the Europeans at Valhalla.

US Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger is set to pick his four wildcard picks for the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla this afternoon.

Azinger has a couple of Ryder Cup veterans to pick from who didn’t make it into the automatic places. Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson and Scott Verplank are all hoping for wildcard picks along side JB Holmes, Hunter Mahan, Sean O’Hair and Woody Austin.

The four wildcard picks will be playing along side the eight players who have already qualified in Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Anthony Kim, Ben Curtis, Justin Leonard, Boo Weekly and Jim Furyk.

Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson have booked the last 3 automatic places for the european ryder cup for 2008 at valhalla.

After the Johnnie Walker Championship it was Nick Dougherty who narrowly missed out and Rose, Hansen and Wilson gaining the automatic places.

Nick Dougherty could still make the ryder cup team but would need a wildcard pick, as he needed a second place finish at gleneagles.

The automatic ryder cup places for the European team have been filled by Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Soren Hanson and Oliver Wilson.

Nick Faldo’s wildcard picks will be annouced at 6pm during a press conference.

After another important point scoring weekend in golf the european and US teams have taken a little more shape.

The current european team is looking like this -

1. (1) Padraig Harrington - Ireland
2. (2) Lee Westwood - England
3. (3) Sergio Garcia - Spain
4. (4) Henrik Stenson - Sweden
5. (5) Robert Karlsson - Sweden
6. (6) Miguel Angel Jimenez - Spain
7. (7) Graeme McDowell - Northern Ireland
8. (8) Justin Rose - England
9. (9) Oliver Wilson - England
10. (10) Soren Hansen - Denmark

The european team is a good mix of experience and first timers who have had a good team.

Englands Lee Westwood has 5 caps previously, Ireland’s in form golfer Padraig Harrington has 4 caps as does Spains Sergio Garcia. Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain has 2 previous caps with Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson both having one previous cap. All other current european players have never previously played in the Ryder Cup.

Englands Luke Donald is definitely out of the ryder cup for 2008 after having surgery on his injured left wrist.

Donald injured his wrist in the final round of the US Open and has not played since due to the injury. The news that Luke is out of the Ryder Cup has made Captain Nick Faldo’s picks that little bit easier as you would feel hiw two wild cards picks would now be out of Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer.

The ryder cup will be taking place at Valhall between the 19th - 21st September 2008.

American golfer Hunter Mahan has caused controversy after speaking out regarding the way the US ryder cup are treated when on duty.

26 Year Old Mahan was speaking in the to golf magazine in the US over the last couple days when this comment propelled him into the spotlight “From what I’ve heard the Ryder Cup isn’t fun. The fun is sucked right out of it. That’s the word I hear a lot from past players, At some point the players might say, ‘You know what - we’re not doing this anymore, because this is ridiculous”.

As you can see there may of been a hint in the comment from Hunter Mahan that a high profile player will be dropping out of the US team, which will leave a big hole as world number one Tiger Woods will already be missing from Valhalla after his injury.

American Bruce Vaughan has won the Senior Open at Royal Troon after a play-off with fellow American John Cook. Vaughan took the Open Title after the first play-off hole where he calmly slotted in a 20 foot putt for the senior championship.

50-year old John Cook looked to have the Senior Open in his hands as after 10 holes on the final day he had a 3 shot lead. Cook’s round started to go badly wrong with a double bogey on the 11th and a nightmare bogey on the 18th hole where a par would of been enough for victory. Personally Cook’s choice of golf equipment was to blame on the final day he decided to take a putter out when he was 10 foot short of the green and subsequently bogeyed the hole and slipped back to six under along side Bruce Vaughan.

After four rounds in the championship Bruce Vaughan and John Cook finished on six under. A shot back on five under was Argentine Eduardo Romero with former ryder cup captain Bernhard Langer a further shot back on four under. Greg Norman who came so close in The Open at royal birkdale finished well to be on 2 under for the senior open along side American legend Tom Watson.