David Davies in New York: Golf
Nick Faldo has thought the unthinkable. After a season in which he has been consistently inconsistent, he knows there is a real danger that he might not be in the Ryder Cup team that plays the Americans at Valderrama at the end of next month.
He admitted to the darkest of dark thoughts at Winged Foot, the venue this week for the 79th US PGA Championship – and his last chance to make the top 10 in the points list of those who are automatically in the team.
“I’ve thought about not being in the team,” he said, “and I wouldn’t like to miss out. I’ve been on 10 straight teams. I want to be on 11, set another record.”
Realistically he needs to win this championship to be certain of his place. Second, even third, might do but would leave him dependent on others doing badly. The trouble with a winning requirement is that Faldo is going through his worst season ever regarding the four major championships.
He missed the cut in the Masters, tied for 48th in the US Open and for 51st in the British Open. By the standards of a six- major winner, that is exceedingly poor, particularly when compared with Jesper Parnevik, also playing full-time on the US Tour.
The Swede is another contender for a place on the team and his performances in the majors have been rather better than Faldo’s. Parnevik tied 21st in the Masters, 48th in the US Open and then almost won the British Open, finishing second to Justin Leonard.
Faldo’s recent form has reduced him to pointing out that in his trips to Europe he has, in three tournaments, finished second, third and fourth. Even then, though, Parnevik can trump him.
The Swede has had four second places on the US Tour, a third and two fifths. “I feel,” said Faldo, “that, with my winning the LA Open, the European finishes and with 10 Ryder Cups behind me, my credentials are pretty good.”
There ought, of course, to be no doubt about Faldo’s presence in Spain.
Any man who can do what he did at Oak Hill in the last Ryder Cup – hit a 93m wedge shot to four feet, then hole the putt when he had to – should be there as of right.
A selection system that is designed to promote the interests of the European Tour over those of finding the best possible team has led to the impasse facing Severiano Ballesteros, the captain.
At the moment there are three men he would desperately wish to have in his team – Faldo, Parnevik and Jose-Maria Olazabal – and only two places available for them. To discard any one of them would mean entering the match with a team less than the best it could have been. Given the strength of the opposition, that is stupidity.
If he were able, Parnevik would pick himself. He feels he is playing well enough. “I would like to see a system like they have in any other sport where they just pick the 12 best players.”
Parnevik, who should have been on the last Ryder Cup team, has developed into a very strong player. He is the third European in the world rankings, behind Colin Montgomerie and Faldo, and he nearly won the Open with a game less than his best.
To be so near to winning with a game so far removed from normal is the hallmark of a real competitor. Faldo is one too, of course, and, if either of them could win the PGA Championship this week, an awful lot of problems would be solved.