Darren Clarke would be happy if there was some ‘Beef’ on the European Ryder Cup team menu, but the captain believes Open crowd favourite Andrew Johnston will have to back up his impressive Royal Troon performance with something similar at the USPGA Championship.
The Englishman started the week 29th in the European points list and 31st in the world ranking one.
He will progress up both on the back of his top 10 finish at Troon, however there is still a lot of work to be done before kitting Johnston out for blue and gold colours becomes a realistic possibility.
“Obviously whenever he won at Valderrama (the Spanish Open) he showed everybody he can play,” Clarke said.
“But he’s coming from such a long way behind from where the other guys already had a head start on him.
“There is a long way to go. This is a huge one in terms of points. The USPGA is another one that has massive points. He needs to have a good USPGA to get him somewhere up there in the rankings.
“But it’s great to see him playing well. He’s a character. The crowds love him and it’s great to see.”
There’s still far too much water to go under the bridge before Clarke starts to harden his thoughts on captain’s picks.
“I can’t really say I’m thinking about it because we’ve got to wait and see how everything finishes and try to balance up the team,” he pointed out.
“I can’t stand here and say what I’m going to go for until the automatic nine is finalised. There’s still quite a way to go.”
One of Clarke’s vice-captain’s, Paul Lawrie, was paired with a Ryder Cup certainty, Masters champion Danny Willett. And the Scot was able to report back that the game of Willett, who finished with a 71 for a seven over par total, is in good shape.
“I had a chat with Danny about it (the Ryder Cup) at times during the round,” 10 over par Lawrie said.
“He’s not far away from his best. He struggled with the speed of the greens but he’s hitting the ball well.
“I think Darren will be happy. It’s been a good week for boys in the team and guys on the edges. I think it’s been a positive week.”
Lee Westwood, who could make a 10th appearance for Europe at Hazeltine this autumn, is currently outside the automatic qualification zone.
He gained some valuable points with a solid but unspectacular display at Troon, where he finished one over par.
Westwood said: “I’m ticking over picking points up all the time. My consistency is good but I am not really thinking about the Ryder Cup.
“I’m thinking about playing well week-in, week-out and trying to get a win sooner or later. My form is certainly good enough.”
One man who does already have Ryder Cup thoughts in his mind is Jordan Spieth.
The American former world number one (two over for The Open) said: “We’ve got to win one.
“We’ve got to start a trend back the other way and make them develop a task force. For me personally I’ve got to avenge. I felt like the 2014 singles match was a really important one that I lost (to Graeme McDowell) for the team and I’m going to try and go back and avenge that the best I can.”
