Dougie Donnelly - August 23, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• Aug 23, 2012 8:36 AM ET

This is the final week for earning European Ryder Cup points and the only person who can fall out of the group of automatic qualifiers is Martin Kaymer and that is only if Nicolas Colsaerts wins or finishes second this week. Kaymer was a member of the 2010 European team but he has not played up to his usual standard in 2012. If Colsaerts plays his way onto the team, he would not expect Kaymer to be a Captain’s Pick but the only other real dark horse for a pick would be Padraig Harrington. Harrington is playing in The Barclays this week but he has a lot of experience on the team. He does not see Olazabal selecting David Lynn or Rafael Cabrera-Bello as they do not have any Ryder Cup experience.

Padraig Harrington and Jose Maria Olazabal had a rules dispute in the 2003 Seve Trophy and it is being speculated that there is still bad blood between the two men to such an extent that Olazabal will not include Harrington on the European Ryder Cup team. Donnelly disagrees with the idea that an incident in 2003 will have an impact on Olazabal’s decision in 2012. Plenty of players have had disagreements in the past but have mended fences and teamed together very well on the European Ryder Cup team. Donnelly expects that if Olazabal and Harrington will get along fine on the team if the Captain decides to use one of his two picks of him.

All three courses at Gleneagles are fantastic and while the PGA Centenary Course is not a traditional Scottish course and is more of an American-style course, it is in great shape and a tough test. Perthshire in general is a beautiful place and Donnelly acknowledged that he and his family are fortunate enough to have a vacation home at Gleneagles and they always enjoy spending time there.