NEWCASTLE: European Ryder Cup Captain Darren Clarke has stuck to a winning formula in announcing no changes to the 2016 European Team qualifying process.

Clarke confirmed he will stick with the victorious arrangement adopted by fellow Irishman Paul McGinley who steered Europe to a five point triumph last year.

It means the make-up of Clarke’s Oakland Hills 12-man team will come from the same two categories with four players again qualifying off a European points table, five from a World Points table and leaving Clarke with three wildcard picks.“I gave the qualifying process a lot of thought, I looked at a lot of stats and I looked at a lot of comparisons from what teams would have been like had the qualifying process been slightly different in past years,” he said.

“My overall feeling was given the team Paul (McGinley) had assembled at Gleneagles, and how successful they were, it would have been very foolish of me to try and make any changes to that system. So overall I am absolutely delighted we are going to have the same qualifying format.”

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2015

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