Irish Eyes are Smiling on the Ryder Cup

And the rich get richer. Not only are Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia playing as well or better than anyone in the world besides the idle Tiger Woods, now the inspiring comeback of Darren Clarke has apparently come full circle.

Last weekend in the Netherlands, Clarke cemented his spot as one of Captain Faldo’s wild card picks by winning the KLM Open in convincing fashion. Starting with a two shot lead, he ultimately dominated one of the world’s best players and future Ryder Cup teammate in Henrik Stenson. Not that it was easy. Clarke had to survive a nervous par-bogey-par start, which saw him fall one shot behind in the first three holes when Stenson flew out of the gates with three straight birdies to start his round. Clarke responded in championship form with birdies on three of the next four holes to re-establish his lead, and then put it in cruise control with solid play down the stretch. Even when Stenson made another run at him on the back nine, Clarke met nearly every challenge as well as anyone could hope. In fact, it was very reminiscent of the way Woods seems to finish off every tournament.

So, in what position does this put the European team? Clarke is still not automatically qualified. But this masterful performance closely following a 6th place finish at the WGC Bridgestone event AND his enormous team room presence make him a mortal lock for one of those two Captain’s picks. As far as the other pick, it will depend greatly on who locks up the automatic picks. It looks to me as if Ian Poulter would be the favorite for that spot, with only Carl Pettersson and Paul Casey having the chance to surpass him with a very strong challenge for the Deutsche Bank title this weekend.