YOU’D IMAGINE, given his current form, that Carl Pettersson would have the Ryder Cup on his mind. But you’d be wrong. The Swede – who earlier this year became a naturalised American – may be one of the hottest players in the game right now after his win in the RBC Heritage on the US Tour on Sunday, but he has confessed to a blissful ignorance in the qualifying status for Jose Maria Olazabal’s European team for the match against the USA in Chicago next September.
As it happens, Pettersson’s name does not appear on either of the European Tour’s qualifying tables for the simple reason that he hasn’t taken out tour membership, whereby a player must commit to play a minimum number – 13 – of tournaments.
Pettersson, who moved to 35th in the latest world rankings, is very much his own man – especially when it comes to his take on the fitness requirements of playing on tour – but the apparent lack of desire to play in the Ryder Cup would seem a strange approach.
Indeed, his form has been such since the European qualifying campaign started last September that he would currently occupy an automatic place on Olazabal’s team through the world points list if he were a member of the European Tour.
Although he missed out on playing in the Masters, because he wasn’t ranked inside the world’s top 50 at the time of the cut-off, Pettersson has finished second (Houston Open) and first (Heritage) in his last two outings and also secured a runner-up place in the Sony Open earlier this season.
Since Ryder Cup qualifying started, he has earned 118.24 world ranking points, which would currently move him ahead of Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez Castano, who occupies the 10th and last automatic position.
Of the possibility of making the Ryder Cup, Pettersson observed: “I’m not going to think about it too much. It’s a complicated system. I’m not even sure if I’m a member of the European Tour, which you have to be, to be eligible. Maybe I could be a captain’s pick? But that’s a long way down the road . . . too far down the road, just see what happens.”
The Heritage marked the fifth career win on the US Tour for Pettersson, who turns 35 in August, but his decision to take out US citizenship probably explains where his mindset is when it comes to the Ryder Cup.
As he explained in the aftermath of Sunday’s win: “Yeah, I know I’m Swedish. I’ve spent the majority of my life (living outside of Sweden). I lived in Sweden 10 years, my first 10 years, and then England for five and then in America ever since. I honestly feel more American than Swedish . . . I know I’m from Sweden, but I’ve lived here (in America) so long I’m very American.”
Pettersson’s unusual approach to fitness and weight came about after he lost 30lb in a fitness regime a number of seasons ago and then played mediocre golf, before putting the weight back on.
“Just because you don’t look like an athlete doesn’t mean you’re not an athlete. We’re not running marathons, we’re just walking 18 holes. Maybe some of these guys are overdoing it,” he said.
As Pettersson’s fifth career win enabled him to jump from 68th to 35th in the latest rankings, Rory McIlroy returned to the number one spot – five weeks after losing it to Luke Donald – without having to swing a club in anger.
McIlroy, who is on a three-week break and doesn’t play again until the Quail Hollow championship in a fortnight’s time, tweeted: “#1 again without touching a club this week . . . I wish it was that easy!”
Darren Clarke – who got married in the Bahamas last week to Alison Campbell – isn’t due to return to tournament play until the Ballantines Championship in Korea next week, while Graeme McDowell is back in action at next week’s New Orleans Classic. Pádraig Harrington is on a three-week break until the Players Championship.
There are five Irish players in action in the Volvo China Open this week on the European Tour: Damien McGrane, a previous winner of the event, is joined by Peter Lawrie, Shane Lowry, Michael Hoey and Gareth Maybin in a tournament where Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts defends his title.
Colsaerts’ win last year opened numerous doors, getting him into the Majors and also in to the field for the Volvo World Matchplay. “It helped me realised how good I could be. It set me on a whole new career path, and helped me fulfil a lot of the potential I knew I had.”
