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It has begun. The Ryder Cup is upon us. OK, it's still over a year away, but the qualification has started for the European team. Thomas Bj∅rn has the unenviable task (although I don't know many people that would turn down the offer) of trying to lead Europe to victory over a frighteningly good United States team lead by Jim Furyk. With the likes of Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth & Co. rising to prominence, Bj∅rn will have his work cut out for him. However, there have been plenty of promising signs from Europeans in 2017, including Tommy Fleetwood's sublime surge from number 99 to number 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) leaderboard and Jon Rahm's cosmic rise from well outside the top 100 to well inside the top 10. The OWGR will be crucial to Europe's team, as the top four Europeans on the World Points list between this week's Czech Masters and next year's Made in Denmark tournament will take automatic spots on the 2018 European Ryder Cup team. In a bid to reward loyal European Tour players, the top four earners on the European tour in the same time bracket will also take automatic spots, leaving Captain Thomas Bj∅rn and Vice-captain Robert Karlsson with four 'Wildcard' picks.
Back to this week's tournament, the D+D Real Czech Masters, and there are plenty of Europeans looking to hit another level as the qualification process commences. St George's Cross dominates the leaderboard after day one- as expected- with Callum Shinkwin topping the field. Shinkwin had been my pick for the week, along with Jordan Smith, so I can't say I'm surprised to see his name at the top. The World No. 159 hit a -6 on the opening day at Prague's Albatross Golf Resort, while Jordan Smith sits at PAR despite opening with an eagle. Englishmen from the 2016 Ryder Cup, Lee Westwood and Matthew Fitzpartick, are also sitting pretty in Prague after opening rounds of -2 on the PAR 72 course. On the flip side, Europe's 2016 Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke risks missing the CUT after opening with +2. Belgium's Thomas Pieters and Germany's Martin Kaymer, who also played in that 2016 defeat, sit at one-under at the end-of-play on Thursday. Shinkwin's nearest European rival at the top after day one is Sweden's Pontus Widegren at -5, with Dylan Frittelli of South Africa equalling that score.
As the tournament moves into the weekend, we will surely see some big turnarounds on the leaderboard and a few indicators as to which Europeans could be pushing to put their name up there amongst the more elite, who are competing in the PGA Tour's Dell Technologies Championship as part of the FedEx Cup playoffs. In that PGA Tour event, the likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm are perfect examples of players who have catapulted themselves to the very top inside a year. Can any of the aforementioned players follow in their footsteps? Only time will tell... but we'll try to predict it anyway!
Written by Joe Carabini
