It was the hardest call in every way. Paul McGinley finally decided that his old friend, Luke Donald, had not done enough to merit a place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team and so he picked up the phone. “I have a very strong bond and feeling with him,” the captain said. “When I see him next time it’s going to be tough.”
McGinley is such a gregarious, affable figure that some might have wondered whether he would have had the toughness to make the difficult decisions. The laymen and the Americans now know that he can be ruthless. His wild-card picks of the talismanic Ian Poulter and in-form Stephen Gallacher met with general approval, but the duel between two ailing former world No 1s, Donald and Lee Westwood, was more divisive.
No sooner had McGinley revealed his hand in the plush ballroom at Wentworth than Sir Nick Faldo was taking the opposite stance. “If Lee and Luke were a tied pick, I would have picked Luke,” he tweeted. “Fab short game under pressure in probably rough weather.”
In truth, it was hard to argue with any degree of passion against McGinley’s selections. Had he felt able to then he would have loved to have picked Donald, who has never been on the losing side at the Ryder Cup. “Let’s not get things out of perspective,” McGinley said as he sidestepped sweeping statements. “There are bigger things in life than having to make a call about sport, but it was a very, very difficult thing for me to do because of my personal relationship with Luke and what I think of him as a person.
“We have shared so many emotions together in extreme situations like Ryder Cups and Medinah where a whole lot of things went on that people aren’t even aware of.”
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Ultimately, Westwood’s flickers of form over the past five weeks meant he was the last man in. Donald was not expecting to be left out, but took it with typical good grace. “He was very, very disappointed and rightly so,” McGinley said. “He’s a former world No 1 and his record in the Ryder Cup stands alongside anyone. He said, ‘I publicly backed you to be the captain and, even though you haven’t picked me, I still believe you’ll be a great captain.’ His last words were, ‘Go Europe.’ ”
Captain’s picks are always going to be tinged with controversy. Had McGinley stuck to the world points rankings then his men would have been Gallacher, Donald and Poulter. However, such is Poulter’s penchant for DayGlo drama on the Ryder Cup stage that he was the first of the wild cards inked in. “He has not really shown a great amount of form going in, in the past, so I was not perturbed about seeing form from him,” McGinley said.
This summer, when Poulter was getting injuries and missing cuts, McGinley had all but stated that he would be picked, hailing his display at Medinah in 2012 as possibly “the best sporting achievement I have ever seen”. Five successive birdies stopped the momentum of the United States in Illinois and were the catalyst for one of the most remarkable of comebacks. “I get very fired up for the Ryder Cup,” Poulter said. “I get very motivated. My body is in a lot better shape than it was in the middle of the season.”
McGinley said Gallacher was the next easiest call, despite his rookie status, largely because of his third-place finish at the Italian Open on Sunday. That left Donald v Westwood, albeit that Francesco Molinari was also considered. “Lee won by a short head,” the captain said.
Westwood said he had been quietly confident after recovering from missed cuts at the US Open and the Open to find some form at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship. “Paul obviously felt he needed experience and he picked me,” he said. “I guess I can almost be like a vice-captain in the team room with the rookies and things like that. I’ve more Ryder Cup experience than a lot of captains. So if he wants me to take the rookies to one side, or play with them in practice, go out with them, I’m able.”
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With the US finalising their team overnight, the phoney war is set to start in earnest. Westwood showed his nous by dismissing talk of Europe as favourites by saying it would come down to long putts and the right time and momentum. Certainly, McGinley has reminded the players that the Miracle of Medinah was very nearly the Mauling.
He will add three vice-captains in the next 48 hours, probably including Miguel Ángel Jiménez, but knows that his toughest decision has already been made. “I wanted to do it in the right way and do it right through the front door,” McGinley said of his first call to Donald. Westwood summed up the emotion of that conversation well, saying of McGinley’s method: “He’s got to be very cold.” The phone is back on the hook. It remains to be seen whether he has the Americans’ number.
• Tom Watson ended the intense speculation over his three captain’s picks in New York last night. The names of Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan and Webb Simpson were added to the nine players who had qualified for the US team.