The European Ryder Cup players teeing it up at the ISPS Handa Wales Open this week will have the chance to get to know each other even better before Gleneagles, with the draw throwing up two Ryder Cup groupings.
Lee Westwood, who is making his first appearance at the event in ten years, will play alongside Ryder Cup debutant and home favourite Jamie Donaldson, and last week’s KLM Open champion Paul Casey for the first two days.
With Donaldson third in The Race to Dubai, Westwood showing some good end-of-season form ahead of his ninth Ryder Cup appearance at Gleneagles and Casey back in the winners’ circle, that marquee group is bound to attract plenty of attention.
Denmark’s Thomas Björn, who was a vice captain for the last two contests, including when Europe regained The Ryder Cup at The Celtic Manor Resort four years ago, will be looking to fine-tune his game in Wales, before his first appearance in the biennial match play contest since 2002.
The Great Dane will tee it up on Thursday afternoon with another Ryder Cup debutant in Stephen Gallacher, the Scot who so impressively earned one of European Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley’s wildcard picks thanks to some timely top ten finishes in the Czech Republic and Italy.
Thongchai Jaidee, who won the ISPS Handa Wales Open in 2012, is the third man in that interesting three ball.
Grégory Bourdy followed in Jaidee’s footsteps last year courtesy of a two stroke victory over Peter Uihlein, and the Frenchman will begin his quest to become the first player to successfully defend the title alongside Irishman Shane Lowry and Australia’s Brett Rumford.
While much of the Welsh focus has focused around Donaldson, his compatriot Bradley Dredge has also been impressive over the last couple of months, posting back-to-back second place finishes in Denmark and the Czech Republic.
With no home winner to date, Dredge will be hoping to change that when he takes to the tee beside two others with Ryder Cup pedigree- Italy’s Francesco Molinari, who represented Europe in 2010 and 2012, and England’s David Howell, who was part of the victorious teams of 2004 and 2006.
