Golf-Westwood would revert to four captain’s picks if chosen to lead Ryder Cup team

September 28, 2021

(Reuters) – Lee Westwood said he would restore the number of captain’s picks to four and make other changes to the selection process if chosen to lead Europe’s Ryder Cup team in 2023.

Europe were thrashed 19-9 by the United States at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin as the Americans reclaimed the trophy at the biennial competition.

Westwood, who has been tipped as a future Team Europe captain, said he would reverse Padraig Harrington’s decision to trim the number of captain’s picks to three.

“My first thought would be four, four, four,” said Westwood, who has won the Ryder Cup seven times with Europe.

“Four (qualifiers) off the European points list, four off the world list and four picks.”

Harrington chose the PGA Championship at Wentworth, one of the European Tour’s flagship events, as the final qualifying event for Team Europe and Westwood said he would probably have done things differently.

“There’s got to be some sort of qualifying because you want your players to play under pressure,” Westwood said.

“But I just feel like Wentworth is a massive tournament which should stand on its own and shouldn’t have the distraction of it being the last qualifying event.

“But that’s the nice thing — different captains have different ideas. Padraig has had loads of good points that future captains can take off him.”

(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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