Edoardo Molinari was a must. Donald was almost as sure a choice, but do you agree that Harrington's majors record, Ryder Cup experience and general presence outweigh the fact that he's not playng his best ?

Nice touch to have Garcia in as a 4th Vice Captain, I thought.

Slingshot

Can't say that I have a problem with the picks, Harrington is probably the least deserving and I always thought Donald was a bit boring (not unlike westwood) for matchplay. Molinari is/has been playing excellent this year and definitely had to be on the team. What surprises me the most is who the feck is Peter Hanson? I mean if the qualification system is to work properly then surely someone like Rose/Casey should be above a guy who won the Czech Open?

I'd rather see the Captain have more picks so the 8th/9th qualifying spots become obsolete. Even Jiminez scraped in on the back of a lacklustre year.

Put it all together though and the team isn't too bad although I think the USA team is stronger than we appear to be making out... which is worrying

I have to agree with you on all points. The mechanism is far from perfect.

I think Monty will be a better skipper than Faldo (and I have nothing against Faldo by any stretch of the imagination - he's obviously a legendary golfer). The skipper could make the difference, but I also wonder if the players themselves (esp. Donald) agree with the faults in the system and believe that Casey should be there ? That might affect their attitude.

Slingshot

I think he already is a better skipper if only because he's built an entire taskforce of people around him - but what if they lose? Will it be a case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians?

Golf is a fickle game, whomever has a putter on fire will win, to appoint blame would be wrong... so I'll blame Monty if it all backfires

Slingshot