Hello all as I haven't posted an update in a while. Tired boy I am as I'm up early to cover the European Ryder Cup team announcement.

Ian Woosnam will name Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood and both picks are not without controversy.

Clarke is logical under normal circumstances, but he has played very little competitive golf this season to be with his wife, Heather, who died last month. All I can say is if he's picked, he better be ready to play. I think he can certainly do it and the whole experience might be therapuetic, he just better be ready.

Westwood is sick as a dog this week, but Woosnam talked him into playing. If I had tonsillitis and the Ryder Cup captain asked me to play, I'd have walked away from that conversation with an invitation. Not a promise of a look, I'd need my travel itinerary in hand.

Both are fine picks, and truth be told, there's not much else to choose from. Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Bjorn are solid veterans, but aren't in great form. Johan Edfors is an interesting name considering he'd be a rookie. It's not unheard of. Mark James picked Andrew Coltart in 1999 then elected not to play him until Sunday. My theory is that Coltart blackmailed James into free airfare to the States.