Tag Archives: ryder cup 2012

All Star Line-Up At The Irish Open This Week

It’s the start of the Irish Open this week to which there will be an illustrious field of Ryder Cup players and Major Champions. The  €2million event has attracted the attention from around the world and they will be coming to the glorious Carton House Golf Club.

There will be no fewer than 79 European Tour Winners teeing it up this week and seven players with 11 major titles between them also trying to get into form before The Open championship in a few weeks time.

The 2012 Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazábal will also be teeing it up having won the event back in 1990, he will have four of that team who won in MedinahMolinari, McIlroy, McDowell and Paul Lawrie. 

Should be a great week of golf again, let’s just hope the weather is okay, as we all know it can get a bit wet on the Emerald Isle!

Pettersson won’t leave home to chase Ryder Cup

Carl Pettersson who was runner-up at the Sony Open and Houston Open before he won at Hilton Head last week. Three high finishes would be more than enough to put him at No. 10 in the Ryder Cup standings, except for one small little teenie weenie problem.

He is not eligible for Ryder Cup points.

”You have to be a member of the European Tour, which I’m not,”Pettersson said Tuesday.

Pettersson has lived in the states since he was a teenager, and last year became a U.S. citizen. He resides in North Carolina with his wife and two children, who are about to turn 5 and 8. He feels it is a priority for him to be at home instead of traveling the world to meet the minimum 13 European Tour tournaments to be a Tour member.

”It’s too hard to play two tours at once,” Pettersson said. ”It’s hard to compete on one, let alone two. I’ve seen others try to do two. It’s very difficult. Luke Donald did it last year. I know it’s a Ryder Cup year. But if I’m playing well, maybe they’ll take me.”

Luke Donald became the first player to win the money list on both sides of the Atlantic last year. For most members of both tours, they have the advantage of eight tournaments that count toward both – four majors and four World Golf Championships. Until he won last week, Pettersson wasn’t eligible for any of them.

For now Pettersson can get himself ready for the majors. The Masters was the only major he played in 2011. His win at Hilton Head made him eligible for the PGA Championship and the Masters next year. He is ranked No. 35 in the world and must stay in the top 60 for the U.S. Open and top 50 for the British Open.

2012 Ryder Cup Race Set To Begin

Ryder Cup Qualifying Starts On Thursday

The battle for 2012 Ryder Cup places is set to unfold as the first event in the race for qualification draws closer.

The European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre starts tomorrow with six players from the victorious 2010 team in the field.

“I’m excited the qualification period is starting. It will be interesting to see how the players perform,” said Europe’s 2012 Captain, Jose Maria Olazabel.

Ten players will qualify automatically, with Olazabal choosing two wildcards.

Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Miguel Angel Jimenez and brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari begin their campaigns in the Swiss Alps.

Five players automatically qualify through the European Tour‘s points list, with another five decided by the world rankings.

Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Padraig Harrington will all be looking for solid performances in the latest round of the FedEx Cup play-offs, which take place in Boston on Friday.

“It is going to be very difficult to make the team – to be one of the top five on the European points list or the world points list is going to be tough,” added Olazabal.

“The players will have to play really well to make it and I am sure they are preparing themselves to peak at the right times so that we can have the best chance to win.”

The 2012 Ryder Cup takes place at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois in September 2012.