What was the PGA of America thinking when it changed the point system for qualifying for the Ryder Cup? Admittedly the new one is an improvement over the woeful old system, but that is the equivalent of saying that robbery is better than armed robbery. Yes, it helped that the points are multiplied for current year performances but the other fundamental flaws of the old system was retained: points are only awarded for top 10 finishes. What that means is that an 11th place finish in the Masters – or any tournament, for that matter – has the same value as a missed cut at, say, the Reno-Tahoe Open. Theoretically, John Rollins, who currently is in the 10th and final guaranteed place on the team, could miss every cut for these last four weeks of the qualifying period and every one of the next five guys on the list could finish in the top 15 of each of those same four events and it would not change a thing.

The old system was devised when the PGA Tour was comprised almost exclusively of American players, so it did not make that much of a difference. But now the PGA Tour has over one third of its membership who are foreign-born. And these foreign-born players include many of the best players in the world who frequently make up about half of the top ten in a given tournament, thereby taking away Ryder Cup point-making opportunities from the Americans. At the very least, points should be awarded to the top 10 American finishers. I would also argue that points be awarded to any one making the cut, or else penalize points for missed cuts.

The European team qualifications are the top 5 Euros in the World Rankings and the top 5 in money earned in qualifying events in the current Ryder Cup year. Now there’s a novel idea. No wonder that team is loaded with the guys who are playing the best golf. Why even bother with a separate point system at all?

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