At the close of the Made in Demark tournament on the European Tour, Europe’s eight automatic qualifiers have been confirmed with Thorbjorn Olesen hanging on to his spot.
The eight players hold six Major titles between them and all eight have won one or more Rolex Series event on the European Tour. Of the eight qualifiers, there are five Ryder Cup rookies.
The four players who qualify via the European Points List are The Open champion Francesco Molinari, Olympic champion Justin Rose, Rolex Series event winner Tyrrell Hatton and the 2017 Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood.
Those qualifying via the World Points List are world No 5 Jon Rahm, four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, 10-time European Tour winner Alex Noren and the Tour’s form horse this year, Olesen.
Heading into the final qualifying event at the Made in Denmark, Olesen’s spot in the team was hanging in the balance as the English duo of Matthew Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperell could both displace the Dane with a win, if he was to finish worse than a tie for seventh.
However, with both players failing to win, Olesen will become the third Dane to represent Europe at a Ryder Cup after Soren Hansen and this year’s captain Thomas Bjorn.
Bjorn will have the opportunity to add four wildcard picks to his team this Wednesday (5 September), with the skipper facing a difficult decision.
The likes of Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Paul Casey, Thomas Pieters and Ian Poulter are all in form and have Ryder Cup experience, whereas the likes of Russel Knox, Eddie Pepperell and Matt Wallace are also in fantastic form this season but have never featured at a Ryder Cup.
