Was Danny Willett snubbed because of brother's barbs?
CHASKA, Minn. — It is tough to come up with an appropriate description for the odd furor involving a magazine article penned by brother of the Masters champ that gripped the buildup to the Ryder Cup. Willett-gate? Cretin-gate?
Yet while neither tagline exactly rolls off the tongue, as the matches began on Friday morning it strongly seemed that the indiscreet scribblings of Danny Willett’s sibling had wielded a tangible impact on the competition.
On Friday morning, several English newspapers suggested that Willett’s omission from the European lineup for the opening round of foursomes was directly related to his brother P.J.’s antagonistic taunts that the American crowd is comprised of, among other things, “fat, stupid cretins.”
Team Europe skipper Darren Clarke was adamant on Thursday evening that his selections had not been affected by the controversy, yet few believed him. Clarke's comments “were fooling no one,” according to the Daily Mail, while several other papers reported that Willett’s unsettling week had played a factor in him being “dropped.”
“There is always a bit of cat and mouse that goes on with the pairings,” Clarke said.
Willett had played alongside Lee Westwood in all his practice rounds and looked certain to partner with his fellow Englishman before off-course matters became a factor. Rookie Thomas Pieters of Belgium was eventually picked to accompany Westwood, who is in contention this week to become Europe’s highest points scorer in event history.
It was expected that Willett would instead make it first outing during Friday’s afternoon fourballs after admitting he’d been rocked by the familial distraction in what is his first Ryder Cup.
His practice round, witnessed by Clarke on Thursday, was erratic and unconvincing, which may have had as much to do with him being left out of the lineup as his brother’s ill-advised words.
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