Golf, Ryder Cup: six-man challenge for third place

It is the last tournament useful for qualifying for the European Ryder Cup team. From tomorrow, Thursday 31 August, until Sunday, the appointment is with the Omega European Masters. On the course of the Crans-sur-Sierre GC, in Crans Montana in Switzerland, there will be three Azzurri in the field: Edoardo Molinari, one of the vice captains of Team Europe, Renato Paratore and Guido Migliozzi, who returns after playing The Open in July .

The race

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Omega will resolve the last doubts of Luke Donald, the European captain, who on Monday will communicate the 12 members of the squad for the match against the USA scheduled at the Marco Simone stadium in Guidonia (Rome) from 29 September to 1 October. There are 4 players already qualified in Team Europe: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton. In the tournament in Switzerland, third place in the European points classification is up for grabs, which entitles you to automatic qualification. The competition is between six players with Robert MacIntyre, who must defend third place, and with Yannik Paul (4th), Adrian Meronk (5th), Victor Perez (6th), Rasmus Hojgaard (8th) and Adrian Otaegui ( 9°), who have the possibility of overcoming it, with different degrees of difficulty. The Scotsman can’t only remedy a possible victory by Paul, who is also the only one able to achieve the goal with a third place alone, but in this case depending on the position of the opponent. MacIntyre has the possibility of avoiding overtaking if Meronk, Perez or Hojgaard win, but only with the second solitary position for the first or at most with a teammate for the second, while if he asserts himself the Dane can also allow himself third. The trio has greatly reduced chances with second place. As for Otaegui, he has the only chance of success, but with very narrow margins. For the World Points, this issue is also limited to the third and last place available with Tommy Fleetwood, who currently occupies it and who won’t play, and with Matt Fitzpatrick, fourth, who will be at the start at Crans. The shutout, however, has a good chance of receiving one of the wild cards. Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose are also virtually certain to be on the team. The prize money is 2,500,000 dollars, the South African Lawrence defends the title.