Watson gives back one U.S. captain's pick for Ryder Cup

Watson gives back one U.S. captain's pick for Ryder Cup










The Sports Xchange March 20, 2013 10:50 AMThe SportsXchange



Tom Watson is relinquishing one of the four captain's picks for the 2014 Ryder Cup matches in Scotland with the intention of fielding a more representative team.

Watson said the top nine U.S. players in the Ryder Cup standings will qualify and he will make three captain's selections.

"Giving our players one more opportunity to earn a spot on merit, I believe, is the right thing to do," Watson said Wednesday at a news conference. "I will use all possible resources in choosing these three captain's choices to complete the best possible team in order to win the cup back for the United States."

Before the 2008 Ryder Cup, Paul Azinger expanded the U.S. captain's picks to four, used a points system based on PGA Tour earnings rather than top-10 finishes and weighted results from the year in which the Ryder Cup was being played more heavily.

The result was an American victory over Europe at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., in 2008. But the U.S. side has since dropped the last two matches.

From 1989 until 2006, the U.S. captain had two wild-card selections.