Darren Clarke names Thomas Pieters as Ryder Cup wildcard alongside Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer
DARREN CLARKE has named Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and rookie Belgian Thomas Pieters as his three captain's wildcard picks for the European Ryder Cup at Hazeltine later this year.
With five of the automatic nine qualifiers for Europe having never played in the prestigious tournament before, Clarke was widely expected to include the experienced duo of Westwood and Kaymer.
Kaymer was the man who sank the winning put for Europe in 2012's success in Medinah.
But it is rookie 24-year-old Pieters who is the surprise pick, beating veteran Luke Donald to the final spot despite winning twice last year in his breakthrough season.
Who is Thomas Pieters?
The Belgian has burst onto the scene in the last couple of years since turning professional in 2013, winning twice on the tour last year.
He is a whopping 6ft 5in with huge power off the tee, but there is more to his game, as he showed with three straight birdies to win the Made in Denmark tournament last weekend, which he won by one stroke.
He is still to make his mark in Majors, with his best result being 30th, which he achieved at the Open this year
Pieters' great display at the Made in Denmark event on Sunday, where he won by one shot, ultimately swayed Clarke’s thinking, meaning half the Europe team to compete later this month in Minnesota are newbies to the Ryder Cup.
He said: "I had been playing well for a while but I guess the results were not there [before this weekend].
"It's pretty cool to be honest. I just can't wait to get on that plane and be with the team the whole week."
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Another one to miss out is promising Scot Russell Knox, who won twice on the PGA Tour in the last year.
Europe are going for an unprecedented fourth Ryder Cup in a row on US soil after dominating the competition in the past few years.
Two-time major winner Martin Kaymer will be representing Europe having sunk the winning putt in 2012
The trio join Rory McIlroy, Danny Willett, Henrik Stenson, Chris Wood, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Andy Sullivan and Matt Fitzpatrick on Clarke's team.
The US are captained by Davis Love III and have the likes of Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickleson and Zach Johnson in a very experienced line-up.
Love names his four wildcards in the coming weeks.
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