Backspin: Won last year's Volvo Masters to take the number two ranking in
Europe. Won this year's English Open when he birdied the last five holes in both
the third and fourth rounds. Narrowly missed becoming the first European to shoot
59 on the Tour when he fired a second-round 60 in the European Open last month.
Had a hole-in-one in the third round but collapsed to a closing 75 as Lee Westwood
won the title.
A n d r e w C o l t
a r t
Age: 29
World Ranking: 71
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 1st
Ryder Cup match record: 0-0-0
Backspin: Personable Scot was captain Mark James's surprise wild card selection.
Played on Scotland's Alfred Dunhill Cup-winning team in 1995. Won the inaugural
Qatar Masters title in 1998 for his only European Tour title to date.
S e r g i o G a r c
i a
Age: 19
World Ranking: 31
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 1st
Ryder Cup match record: 0-0-0
Backspin: Schoolboy who at 19 has already made himself a household name,
helped in no small part by his second place to Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship.
Turned pro earlier this year after winning the amateur medal at the Masters. Shot
62 in the opening round of his first U.S. Tour event as a pro, the Byron Nelson
Classic, and finished joint third. Won the Irish Open for his first European Tour
victory but had a disastrous Open with last-place rounds of 89-83 at Carnoustie,
which makes his performance at Medinah all the more remarkable.
P a d r a i g H a r
r i n g t o n
Age: 27
World Ranking: 94
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 1st
Ryder Cup match record: 0-0-0
Backspin: Clinched the last place among the 10 automatic qualifiers, two
years after just missing out on selection for the 1997 match when he finished
12th in the table. Turned professional after playing in the winning Walker Cup
amateur team side in 1995 and won the Spanish Open in his 1996 rookie season.
Teamed with Paul McGinley to win the World Cup for Ireland at Kiawah Island in
1997.
M i g u e l A n g e l J i m e n e z
Age: 35
World Ranking: 35
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 1st
Ryder Cup match record: 0-0-0
Backspin: Consistent Spaniard is making his Cup debut after serving as deputy
for 1997 captain Seve Ballesteros. Late-bloomer is an ex-caddie who only took
up the game when he was 15. The best of his four victories before this year was
at last year's Lancome Trophy where he chipped in from a difficult position for
birdie on the final hole to earn the title and the award for the European Tour
Shot-of-the-Year. Won the Turespana Masters this year.
P a u l L a w r i e
Age: 30
World Ranking: 47
Majors: ('99)
Ryder Cup appearance: 1st
Ryder Cup match record: 0-0-0
Backspin: Sprang to international prominence by winning this year's Open
at Carnoustie. The Scot had only one victory to show for seven years on the European
Tour before this year, the 1996 Catalonia Open. But won the Qatar Masters in February
and a 67 on the last day of the Open championship at Carnoustie last month earned
him a place in the four-hole playoff against Frenchman Jean Van de Velde and American
Justin Leonard. He beat them both by three shots.
C o l i n M o n t g
o m e r i e
Age: 36
World Ranking: 4
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 5th
Ryder Cup match record: 9-6-3
Backspin: Ranked number one in Europe for the past six years and on course
to retain the top ranking this year. Has won five titles on the European Tour
this year, the Benson and Hedges International Open, the British PGA, the Loch
Lomond, the Scandinavian Masters and, on Sunday, the BMW International Open. He
now has 22 Tour wins to his credit. Has not won a major title but was second twice
in the U.S. Open and once in the U.S. PGA.
J o s e M a r i a O l a z a b a l
Age: 33
World Ranking: 21
Majors: Masters ('94, '99)
Ryder Cup appearance: 6th
Ryder Cup match record: 14-8-3
Backspin: Scored an emotional victory at the U.S. Masters in April after
being forced out of the game for 18 months earlier in his career with chronic
foot problems. Won the 1994 Masters for his first major victory. Has 17 wins in
Europe but none this year and in recent months has struggled with his driving.
Had formidable partnership with Seve Ballesteros over four Ryder Cups in which
they won 11, lost two and halved two of their 15 matches together. Likely to be
paired with Sergio Garcia this time.
J
e s p e r P a r n e v i k
Age: 34
World Ranking: 16
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 2nd
Ryder Cup match record: 1-2-1
Backspin: Twice runner-up in the Open, in 1994 and 1997, the eccentric Swede
professes to eating volcanic dust to purge his system. Lost 1994 Open to Nick
Price and admitted afterwards he had failed to look at the scoreboard when he
played the final hole in risky fashion to lose the title. Based in the United
States, he plays both tours and won on both sides of the Atlantic last year. Only
victory this year has been in the Greater Greensboro Open.
J a r m o S a n d e
l i n
Age: 32
World Ranking: 63
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 1st
Ryder Cup match record: 0-0-0
Backspin: Extroverted Finnish-born Swede won this year's Spanish Open to
clinch a Cup debut. A flamboyant player who wields a 52-inch driver and wears
crocodile-skin golf shoes and sometimes very tight-fitting clothes. Three top-10
finishes late last year put him in contention for a Cup debut and his Spanish
victory clinched it.
J
e a n V a n d e V e l d e
Age: 33
World Ranking: 86
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 1st
Ryder Cup match record: 0-0-0
Backspin: Made his name with a horrendous triple-bogey seven at the last
hole of the Open at Carnoustie when a six would have won him the title. Only Tour
victory was at the Roma Masters in 1993. Has become a much-loved personality for
his excruciating misadventures in the stream and the rough at Carnoustie and his
upbeat reaction to a disaster that would have destroyed many other players. He
lost the three-man playoff there to Paul Lawrie.
L e e W e s t w o o
d
Age: 26
World Ranking: 5
Majors: None
Ryder Cup appearance: 2nd
Ryder Cup match record: 2-3-0
Backspin: Troubled by a shoulder injury from mid-April to early June this
year but regained top form to win the Dutch and European Opens in successive weeks
this summer. Won on the U.S. Tour at the Freeport McDermott Classic in April last
year and won the Taiheiyo Masters in Japan last November for the third successive
year, then added the Dunlop Phoenix title the following week.
