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GLENEAGLES, Scotland - In his long and controversial career, Nick Faldo has made a habit of upsetting people and ploughing his own route to success and as Ryder Cup captain he is evidently doing so again after stunning the sporting world last night.
In ignoring the claims
of Darren Clarke and picking Ian Poulter alongside Paul Casey as his two wild cards, Faldo left himself exposed to criticism, both in and outside the team room.
While Casey's inclusion was widely anticipated, Poulter's selection came as a surprise, especially as it came at the expense of Clarke.
Faldo always maintained that he would make his choices on form, but despite the Ulsterman winning by four strokes in the Netherlands last week, Faldo opted for the far less experienced performer who has missed the last two cuts in America.
However, it was the fact that Poulter was even playing in the States at all, and not here at the last counting tournament, that really had the tongues wagging.
Poulter withdrew from the Johnnie Walker Championship on Monday, which prompted players, including Nick Dougherty, to speculate that Faldo had "given Poulter the nod".
The captain rubbished those claims and insisted he had asked Poulter to play in Gleneagles. The 32-year-old still had a chance of making the team by right - he would have needed to have finished in the top four - and it angered many of his peers that he forsook that opportunity for what they saw as selfish reasons.
Poulter himself admitted that he "feared the worst" after his poor display in Boston and confessed that in hindsight "I probably made the wrong decision".
Faldo, himself, said that "Poults has been put through the wringer" and his relief was obvious. "I'm so excited to be in the team," said Poulter, from his home in Orlando.
"I'm overwhelmed, I'm speechless."
That was the majority reaction. Poulter may have finished second in the Open last month at Birkdale - a showing of which Faldo said he was so impressed - but elsewhere he has just had one top 10 and that came in Abu Dhabi at the start of the season.
In fairness, the flamboyant Englishman has been consistent in racking up the top-30s and, as Faldo pointed out, "he is the highest ranked player in the team who had not already made the team".
Poulter is a great putter and a confident competitor. He is also a friend of Faldo's, however, and that inevitably filled the whispers here.
It will not help Faldo's reputation that Clarke is such a popular professional. Since losing his wife, Heather, to cancer two years ago, he has fallen and risen back up the rankings and now stands on the brink of the top 50.
The 40-year-old is a veteran of five previous Ryder Cups, has a stellar record and, with Lee Westwood, has forged one of the most famous fourball and foursomes partnerships in the match's history.
Faldo telephoned Clarke (left) to break the news just before the grand unveiling and said: "You could sense he was disappointed. Darren had made a massive charge and was right there. It was a difficult, difficult decision."
To some it will be an "unfathomable" decision. In a poll of 32 players conducted here to see who they would take to Kentucky, only one opted for Poulter.
To say there was shock and dismay would be an understatement. The number of the disgruntled may just include two of the best players on Faldo's team. The affinity between Clarke and Westwood is no secret, while Padraig Harrington declared his wish to see his fellow Irishman in Louisville as recently as Thursday.
"I don't see how you can't pick Clarke," said the three-times major champion.
Indeed, that was the general feeling throughout the game, and in all this furore, the claims of Colin Montgomerie were largely forgotten.
It will have been a bitter Scotsman who would watched the announcement on television at home last night. He has had a well-publicised spat with Poulter this last week when he accused Poulter of having "a hotline" to Faldo.
The last thing he would have wanted was to miss his first Ryder Cup match since 1991; the second-last thing would have been for Poulter to be there instead.
At least Montgomerie seemed resigned to his own fate when he left here yesterday lunchtime, languishing well down the field at Gleneagles.
The 45-year-old declared before the event that he required a top-10 finish to persuade Faldo he was in good enough form to make his ninth appearance. Alas, he came up well short of that target.
Much has been made, and should Europe lose their first match against America in four stagings, much will be made again, of the fractious relationship between Faldo and Monty. But in all truth it would have been difficult for the captain to select the old boy, even if they were best buddies.
One irony is that Montgomerie will now be left stranded on 23.5 points, one and a half points off the record for individual points scored. Faldo's mark of 25 remains intact. Yet, Monty maintains he will return from this setback and be ready to make a charge towards the 2010 Ryder Cup to be held in Newport.
All that can said with certainty now is that this Ryder Cup will not be the same without him. Nor will it be the same without Clarke. European golf entered a new era last night. For Faldo's sake, it must be hoped it is an era of success.
- INDEPENDENT
