Garcia rockets into Ryder Cup contention
Sergio Garcia’s victory in the Players Championship in Florida was great news not just for him, but also for Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo.
Garcia rockets up from 16th to third on the world points list from which the first five of Faldo’s team will come.
Swede Daniel Chopra is the player who drops out of an automatic spot as a result, while Robert Karlsson moves from eighth to sixth and Nick Dougherty from ninth to eighth.
They were both competing in the Italian Open and finished third and 10th respectively.
The top 10 who would earn places in Nick Faldo’s team as things stand are Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Padraig Harrington, Karlsson, Graeme McDowell, Dougherty, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Soren Hansen.
Latest leading places in the European Ryder Cup tables after the Italian Open and Players Championship (top five on world list on August 31 qualify, plus next five on European list. Captain Nick Faldo then adds two wild cards):
(Capitals indicate players currently in qualifying positions)
World List
1 LEE WESTWOOD 168.14, 2 HENRIK STENSON 156.14, 3 SERGIO GARCIA 145.24, 4 JUSTIN ROSE 141.38, 5 PADRAIG HARRINGTON 121.14, 6 Daniel Chopra 114.88, 7 Martin Kaymer 105.82, 8 Ian Poulter 104.07, 9 Luke Donald 101.09, 10 Miguel Angel Jimenez 92.86, 11 Robert Karlsson 90.95, 12 Soren Hansen 89.07
European List
1 Westwood 1,499,315, 2 Rose 1,239,606, 3 Stenson 1,214,701, 4 ROBERT KARLSSON 993,422, 5 GRAEME McDOWELL 921,032, 6 NICK DOUGHERTY 919,048, 7 MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ 890,753, 8 SOREN HANSEN 859,705, 9 Martin Kaymer 831,353, 10 Soren Kjeldsen 783,923, 11 Steve Webster 755,830, 12 Harrington 745,336
