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Garcia & Parnevik aiming to
seal Ryder Cup place
Heading into this week's PGA Championship,
Jesper Parnevik and Sergio Garcia are leading the chase for European captain Sam
Torrance's Ryder Cup wild cards.
Torrance has admitted he has some tough decisions to make before adding his choices
to the 10 automatic qualifiers for the 2001 matches at the Belfry next month.
Welshman Ian Woosnam is
making a concerted effort to get himself into the running. So are Spaniards Garcia,
Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
But Torrance has revealed
that it is Swede Parnevik and Spanish whiz-kid Garcia who are currently in the
driving seat.
"I've still got a lot
of good players outside the top 10 -- Garcia, Parnevik and Olazabal being three,"
he said on Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek program over the weekend.
"Then there's Jimenez,
(Andrew) Coltart, Robert Karlsson, Paul Lawrie," he added. "There's
a lot of good players there trying to get in. But I'd have to be looking favorably
at Garcia and Parnevik at the moment."
Torrance, who took part
in no fewer than eight Ryder Cups as a player, knows he will have to disappoint
several players when he finally makes his decision. But he remains confident that
whichever team he picks, it will more than compete with Curtis Strange's United
States team.
The U.S. captain will be
able to call upon the undeniable talents of Tiger Woods and British Open champion
David Duval among others. But Scotland's Torrance insists that, with a few noticeable
exceptions, the European team has nothing to fear.
"They're going to be
very strong," he said. "If you look at the top four - Woods, (Phil)
Mickelson, Duval and (Davis) Love, that's probably very strong.
"But after that, they
don't really have the names that intimidate us much," he added. "We've
got a good bit of strength in depth and there are only eight matches per day,
so I think we've got a great chance. Obviously, they're going to be strong, but
we'll be strong too."
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