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Thomas Bjorn Selects Wildcards, Here Are 3 Players Unlucky To Miss Out

Thomas Bjorn Selects Wildcards, Here Are 3 Players Unlucky To Miss Out
Gary Connaughton
By Gary Connaughton
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Europe captain Thomas Bjorn has selected his four wildcards for this year's Ryder Cup.

Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson have been given the four slots, and they will join up with the eight automatic qualifiers.

There had been a lot of speculation as to who the Dane who would select, and he seems to have ultimately gone with the most experienced options. Garcia and Stenson are major winners, while Poulter has always  saved his best golf for this event.

With Team Europe already sporting five rookies on the team, this may explain Bjorn's rationale behind the picks.

However there are three players who can consider themselves very unlucky to have missed out.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello

Rafa Cabrera Bello

The Spaniard has been in fantastic form as of late, and has consistently found himself inside the top 30 in the world rankings.

While he has not won on the tour this year, he has six top-10 finishes to his name, including coming 10th in the recent PGA Championship. He also finished seventh in last week's Fed Ex Cup event in TPC Boston.

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Cabrera-Bello has Ryder Cup experience, having coming away with 2.5 points during the defeat in Minnesota in 2016. He is perhaps the most shocking omission from the team.

Matt Wallace

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Wallace has had a massively successful year on the tour, winning three tournaments.

His latest win came at the Made in Denmark open last week, while he also experienced victory at the prestigious BMW International Open earlier in the year.

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The English man has been playing wonderful golf, and he can consider himself unlucky not to have snuck into the team.

Thomas Pieters

Belgian Pieters has been one of the most consistent players on tour this year, having missed only two cuts in 2018.

He also has three top-ten finishes to his name in recent weeks, including strong showings in the PGA Championship and Czech Masters.

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The 26-year old was selected as a captain's pick by Darren Clarke for the 2016 competition, and he would have been hoping for a repeat of that here. He was Europe's top scorer last time around also, having ended the week with four points.

With Bjorn selecting the most experienced candidates this time around, it seems as though Pieters' age might have cost him.

THE TEAM IN FULL: Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren and Thorbjorn Olesen, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson.

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The tournament takes place at the Albatros Course of Le Golf National in Paris from September 28th-30th.

SEE ALSO: Forget Denmark, Here Are Some Other Famous Football Stand-Offs

 

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