European Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance admitted today that he was somewhat surprised by Curtis Strange's decision to choose Scott Verplank as one of his wildcard picks for next month's tournament at The Belfry. Strange today announced that Verplank, 14th in the US Ryder Cup points table, and Paul Azinger, would take up the two final places on his team for September's contest with the Europeans. His decision surprised many, who expected the 11th place Tom Lehman to be selected, but none more so than Torrance.
"My picks would have been Tom and Brad Faxon," commented the Scot. "But I am glad Paul has got in. I have been friends with him a long time. He has great memories of the Belfry and he is a great addition to their team. Scott's inclusion has surprised me. It is an intimidating atmosphere and he will find it an experience."
Meanwhile, Torrance does not have to make his final wildcard selections until a fortnight's time with two more tournaments counting towards vital points before the final 12 are determined. However, Torrance will have a major problem on his hands as Jesper Parnevik and Sergio Garcia - who opted to play mainly on the US Tour this season - are both outside the top ten and will need to win in Munich in two weeks' time to have any chance of winning an automatic spot. It does not help their case that neither have qualified for next weekend's NEC Invitational, which counts in the European Ryder Cup standings.
"Sergio has won twice on the US Tour and it is quite astounding that he can't get in that event," said an exasperated Torrance. "It could be a problem but there are still two weeks to go and I won't be doing anything until then," he added.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
