Faldo picks Casey and Poulter as his wildcards

European Ryder Cup captain, Nick Faldo, has selected Paul Casey and Ian Poulter as his two wildcard picks for the 2008 Ryder Cup matches at Valhalla in September

Nick Faldo has shocked the golf world and selected Ian Poulter as one of his two wildcard picks for the 2008 Ryder Cup matches at Valhalla in September.

Press and pundits had tipped Darren Clarke to be selected alongside Paul Casey as the two wild cards, but in the end Poulter got the call he was hoping for, despite opting to play in the Fed-Ex Cup event on the PGA Tour rather than try to play his way into the team at Gleneagles during this week's Johnnie Walker Championship.

Faldo's two selections mean the team will line up as follows

2008 European Ryder Cup Team

Padraig Harrington Ire Sergio Garcia Spa Lee Westwood Eng Henrik Stenson Swe Robert Karlsson Swe Miguel Angel Jimenez Spa Graeme McDowell NI Justin Rose Eng Soren Hansen Den Oliver Wilson EngIan Poulter EngPaul Casey Eng

The 37th Ryder Cup takes place at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, from 19-21 September.

Mike Harris
Content Director

Mike has been a journalist all his working life, starting out as a football writer with Goal magazine in the 1990s before moving into men’s and women’s lifestyle magazines including Men's Health, In 2003 he joined Golf Monthly and in 2006 he became only the eighth editor in Golf Monthly’s 100-plus year history leading the brand until July 2023. He is now Content Director overseeing Golf Monthly and two other iconic sports brands, FourFourTwo and Rugby World.

His three main passions in golf are courses (he's played over 500 courses worldwide), equipment (he's always in search of something shinny to give him an edge) and shoes (he owns more pairs than he cares to mention!).  

Mike’s handicap index hovers at around 10 and he is a member of four golf clubs: Hartley Wintney, Royal Liverpool, Royal North Devon and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.


Mike's current What's In The Bag? 

Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus+ 9° - Fujikura Ventus Blue 5S

Fairway woods: TaylorMade Sim Max 3/15° - Fujikura Ventus Blue 6S & TaylorMade Stealth 7/20° - Fujikura Ventus Red 6S

Utility Iron: TaylorMade Stealth UDI 3/21° - Aldila Ascent 90HY

Irons: TaylorMade P790 (5-PW)  - Nippon Tour NSPro 950S

Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 50°, 54° and 58° - KBS Tour Hi-Rev s2.0 hafts

Putter: Evnroll ER2B (Gravity Grip) 

Ball: TaylorMade Tour Response (Yellow)