The Manchurian Captain: Did Monty Help the US With His Picks?

Waiting with bated breath, so many of on both sides of the Atlantic awaited Colin Montgomerie's announcement of his three captain's picks for the Ryder Cup team. The announcement was originally set for 1pm ET, then minutes before the show was to go live, it was pushed back a half hour. 

The pushing back gave the tip of the hand to one of Monty's picks. Luke Donald, with a 5-1-1 career Ryder Cup record, had just gone out in 28 in the final round of The Barclays. The wait was almost assuredly for Monty to change his mind. Montgomerie later acknowledged calling Justin Rose to inform him of the bad news just prior to his 1:30pm tee time.

With more courteous timing aimed at a 1:00pm announcement, Rose could have had more time to process the snub. Instead, he shot 72 after Monty delivered the bad news in private and then told the world that Edoardo Molinari and Paddy Harrington would join Donald as his wild card selections. 

The initial reaction in such things - namely this & the NCAA basketball selection show (teaser: a post coming on this idea later) - is almost always, "How could you leave XYZ out?"

World number nine Paul Casey was left off the team in probably the second biggest snub compared to Rose, a two-time winner this summer. But what about Bernhard Langer, who picked up his fifth Champions Tour win this season? If there is a hotter golfer on the planet right now, please stand up.

In a skeptic's mind - like mine - Casey and Rose were omitted from the team because both opted to play the overwhelming portion of their year on the PGA Tour and, in crunch time for Monty's selection process, crossed the captain's wishes and took their talents to New Jersey for the first leg of the FedExCup playoffs. End game for each of them, yes?

But then how does one explain Harrington's pick? For all intents and purposes, he plays the US tour full time now. He played three times in Europe proper in 2010. Was that the magic number? Of course not. Prior to winning three majors and becoming the most prolific European major winner of his era (yes, really), Harrington was an incredible loyalist to the fledgling European Tour. Fortunately for Harrington, that loyalty was present when Montgomerie was pegged for the annual Order of Merit title and the now captain was unable to translate his winning ways across the Pond. Since then, Harrington has done a loyalty about face - including making a public stink with vice-captain Thomas Bjorn about a rule players were seeking to push through to increase minimum European Tour participation thresholds.

Monty must have remained loyal, knowing he needed at least one more guy who was not a rodeo rookie. For whatever reason, Bernhard Langer was not that on the radar despite unequivocally playing better golf in the last twelve months. Hell, the last 20 months. A Langer nod would have been folly in the UK press and rung of favoritism much louder than St. Patrick's bells. It's hard to fathom ridiculing the pick when Langer was quietly winning for the fifth time this season in Washington, but that likely would have been the reaction.

Honestly, though, why was Harrington not named the vice captain that Sergio Garcia was? If it was experience and camaraderie - and not his 0-8-2 record in the last ten Ryder Cup matches - that carried him onto the squad, couldn't Paddy have been just as valuable as a mascot? Old man Langer could have been accommodated with a shorter setup, Monty's primary advantage as home coach.

As for the other two picks, it seems clear Monty's picks were greatly influenced - if not made - by Sunday afternoon play. A year's worth of golf to pick a squad via a frankly outmoded European system and Monty goes with a match of cards from yesterday afternoon? Wow. 

Edoardo Molinari has earned his place on the team. He earned it when Francesco made the team, assuring Monty of at least one duo who had played together with success. The World Cup champions coincidentally won in China in a stroke play format, but no matter to Monty, who surely was dying to identify his own lethal team. Molinari shielded Monty from undue criticism of the pick with birdies in triplicate to win the Johnnie Walker Championship. Monty said in June that he hoped all of the contending players would join him at Gleneagles to vie for their spots. Molinari was on the fringe with his points, handicapped by being a Challenge Tour player for much of the process. If whoever had won Gleneagles was even close on points, they were on the team.

Though Harrington may be the more curious pick, Luke Donald flat makes no sense. If it were the two Rose MCs in the final two majors that did him in despite a multi-win (though the wins were shaky and he choked away another entirely) season, then how did Luke Donald look better? Donald was MC Hammer at Whistling Straits. He missed four cuts on Tour in 2010, including the Masters. Sans the Open Championship T11 back door style, Donald has nothing to show for in the majors this year. Could Monty have always wanted to pick him and Donald's 28 given him the ammo to pick the Englishman? Probably. That back nine 40, though, reminded everyone of why Donald really made no sense.

And as the Wild Hair Thought, did Monty pick Donald and Harrington to throw off the bettors who were certain they had the inside info? It can't be put past the guy.

In the end, Monty has a shroud of doubt over the three captain's picks that he says traditionally account for 70% of their eligible points. Can you imagine any of those three players doing just that? Maybe Molinari when he and his brother transform into - in Kobe Bryant's soon-to-be immortal words - Voltron. The other two picks were made using ineffective rubrics.

As a Yank, it's hard to not be excited about what Monty unleashed. Ian Poulter's none too pleased with the picks, and he typically represents the attitudes of the up-and-coming generation. Other players on the team might be unhappy with the route Monty took. And, with a connection to Poulter, perhaps this picture of Justin Rose (and Camilo Villegas) might best represent potential dissent in European ranks about how captain Monty tried to outfox his selection system to create an imposing opposition for the invading Americans.