OUTRAGE! Luke Donald stuns golf fans with his six European Ryder Cup picks!
Luke Donald controversially decides to leave Adrian Meronk OUT of the European Ryder Cup team.
Luke Donald has stunned golf fans by controversially leaving Adrian Meronk out the European Ryder Cup team.
The 2023 European Ryder Cup captain revealed his six picks at 2pm on Monday afternoon.
Donald picked Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg and Nicolai Hojgaard as his six captain's picks.
They will now join Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and Bob MacIntyre in the 2023 European Ryder Cup team.
MacIntyre, Straka, Aberg and Hojgaard will all be playing in their first ever European Ryder Cup team.
Aberg essentially sealed his pick with a maiden DP World Tour victory at the Omega European Masters on Sunday.
The talented 23-year-old Swede became the second fastest Swede to win on the DP World Tour in just six appearances.
Here's the moment Luke Donald tells Ludvig Aberg he's in the Ryder Cup team
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) September 4, 2023
Aberg had also thrown in a pair of T4 finishes recently at the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour and Czech Masters on the DP World Tour.
He also becomes the first ever player to compete in the Ryder Cup having never played in a major championship.
Hojgaard clearly did something to impress Donald with his T5 at the Omega European Masters, albeit the two-time DP World Tour winner has not won a tournament since February 2022 at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.
Straka received his pick largely down to securing his second career title on the PGA Tour at the John Deere Classic this season, while also going on to finish a very respectable T14 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Some consider Lowry to be a tad fortunate to receive a pick given his current form, but Donald has sided with the former Open champion as well as former US Open champion Justin Rose and an in-form Fleetwood.
DONALD PICK CONTROVERSY!
But it is Donald's hugely controversial decision to leave Meronk on the sidelines that has caused the biggest shock waves on golf social media.
The rumour first started on Sunday night when popular golf Twitter account Handicap 54 brought it to everyone's attention that Meronk was not going to get a pick from Donald.
It really is a case of where do you start when it comes to the reasons why Meronk should be on the plane to Rome later this month.
Meronk, 30, currently ranks third in the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai standings behind illustrious company in McIlroy and Rahm.
The giant Pole, who finished outside the automatics in fifth on the European Points List, also ranks first in strokes-gained off the tee on the DP World Tour, as well second in the strokes-gained total and fifth in scoring average.
If that wasn't enough to build a strong case for Meronk, arguably the biggest reason of all for him to be in the European Ryder Cup team is that he won the Italian Open earlier this season at Marco Simone, the venue of the 2023 Ryder Cup.
That marked a third DP World Tour title for Meronk in the space of 10 months following victories at two other huge tournaments, the 2022 Irish Open and 2022 Australian Open.
“If (Meronk) doesn’t get (a RC pick) tomorrow, it will be the crime of the century.” Welp.
Meronk is 5th on the Euro RC list & Aberg is 60th AFTER the #OEM2023 win. #MeritBased#AdrianMeronk #RyderCup @DPWorldTour pic.twitter.com/DywwJtSWSA— Pro Golf Critic (@ProGolfCritic) September 3, 2023
Sky Sports Golf's Mark Roe said during the final round coverage of the Omega European Masters where Meronk finished T13 that it would be "the crime of the century if Adrian Meronk is not in Luke Donald's European Ryder Cup team."
You can only imagine what Roe is thinking to himself right now.
Sky Sports Golf's Jamie Spence told GolfMagic this afternoon: "I am absolutely devastated for Adrian, he's played so well this season. It's such a shame for him."
Meronk was bidding to become the first ever Pole to play in a Ryder Cup team.
The decision to leave Meronk out of the team comes less than a week after US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson divided fans by choosing an out-of-form Justin Thomas as one of his six picks.
Here's a look at the two teams in full:
TEAM EUROPE
Captain: Luke Donald
- Rory McIlroy
- Jon Rahm
- Viktor Hovland
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Bob MacIntyre
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Justin Rose
- Shane Lowry
- Sepp Straka
- Ludvig Aberg
- Nicolai Hojgaard
TEAM USA
Captain: Zach Johnson
- Scottie Scheffler
- Wyndham Clark
- Patrick Cantlay
- Brian Harman
- Max Homa
- Xander Schauffele
- Brooks Koepka
- Jordan Spieth
- Collin Morikawa
- Rickie Fowler
- Justin Thomas
- Sam Burns
The Ryder Cup takes place at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, Italy, from September 29 to October 1.
What do you make of the controversial decision to leave Meronk out of the European Ryder Cup team? Share your thoughts and comments over on the GolfMagic social media channels.
