By the close of play on Monday night, the golfing world will know the 24 players who will head to New York in September and contest the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.
Keegan Bradley has already named his six captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup. But on Monday, it will be Luke Donald‘s turn to announce the rest of his lineup as Europe look to become the first away team to win the event since 2012.
From the moment Rasmus Hojgaard qualified automatically, it has seemed that there is unlikely to be a huge twist in the six names Donald opts for.
Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Jon Rahm were all in Rome two years ago. And they have all made strong cases to retain their places.
Fans react to Matt Wallace’s emotional interview ahead of Luke Donald announcing his Ryder Cup picks
That may spell bad news for the man sitting 12th in the European standings.
Matt Wallace finished tied for second at the Omega European Masters on Sunday, two shots back of Thriston Lawrence. Afterwards, the 35-year-old was extremely emotional as he insisted that he will never give up on trying to make the Ryder Cup team during his career.
Unfortunately, one fan believes that Wallace left himself with too much to do to force his way into Donald’s team, writing: ‘Mad respect for that authenticity. My guess is he’ll fall short again, but you have to respect the effort and emotion. My gut feeling is next time he makes it with points to spare‘.
Another said: ‘This is what it means… A tough watch and probably worried he is running out of time? Would love to see him make it in ‘27‘.
Donald will be making a number of calls right now, and one person suspected that Wallace had already received some bad news: ‘The way he said he will never give up seems to me like he just had a call to say he won’t be picked‘.
Wallace’s passion has also been praised, with one fan writing: ‘Love that it matters so much. Compare that to the miserable US players who MADE their Team this week. Go Team Europe!‘ Another said: ‘The man cares which is good to see and everyone on the team should see how much it means to all players trying to get in the squad‘.
And there were calls for Wallace to receive a late pick, with one person saying: ‘There’s an argument for taking him over Straka. I don’t feel Straka has had his best stuff the last 2 or 3 months.’
Someone else wrote: ‘I would take him all day over Matt Fitzpatrick.’
And finally, one fan posted: ‘That’s the kind of bloke and passion who deserves to be there‘.
Matt Wallace is no stranger to being overlooked for the Ryder Cup
Unfortunately, Wallace knows how painful it can be to miss out on making the Ryder Cup team. He won three times on the European Tour in 2018 but missed out on a pick for Paris.
Thomas Bjorn was vindicated with Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter playing their part in Europe’s emphatic victory at Le Golf National.
But speaking to Bunkered earlier this year, Wallace admitted that the decision has left one or two scars.
“The more I know now, I look back and I go… yes, frustrated not to get in,” Wallace admitted. “Felt like I deserved it. Felt like I would have been a good asset to be there and who knows, I might have played another one since then if I had made it with getting there.
“But I didn’t play in America much. I didn’t play against those guys a lot. How can you turn down picking Sergio? So, I’m okay with it.
“I sit okay with it and I got close. This is different now. I’m older, wiser, and I’ve played in the States for five years.”
Based on Wallace’s interview in Switzerland on Sunday, it is going to be extremely difficult for Donald to overlook him.
If Wallace does miss out, Donald should probably use the emotional clip as part of his team talk in New York; reminding the players of what some of their peers would give to be representing Europe on the sport’s biggest stage.
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