McCarron holding out hope for Ryder Cup
By Andrew Both
PA SportsTicker Golf Writer
GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Ticker)—It seems that every United States player on the PGA Tour still harbors hope of making the American team for next month’s Ryder Cup.
Take Scott McCarron, for example. Despite just one top-10 finish this year, he has not given up hope of earning one of Paul Azinger’s four captain’s picks for the biennial showdown with Europe.
Azinger, who announces his selections on September 2, has long said he will go for players who are hot at the time, and that reputations won’t count for much.
That was probably smart thinking by Azinger, because it has certainly kept players motivated, even if they have only the slimmest chance of getting a nod.
“It’s great for Zinger to say something like that,” McCarron said. “I makes everyone feel like they still have a chance and I think that’s a wonderful thing.
“We might not have a chance, but we think we have a chance, so that’s half the battle. I’m thinking maybe there’s an outside chance. You never know.”
He was speaking after carding a 6-under-par 64 in the second round at the Wyndham Championship on Friday, a score that left him four strokes behind halfway leader Carl Pettersson at Sedgefield.
McCarron, 43, a three-time PGA Tour winner, is playing his way back into form after missing the whole of last year after undergoing major elbow surgery in August, 2006.
He tied for fifth at last month’s Canadian Open, but promptly missed the cut in Reno the following week.
That sort of inconsistency is hardly the sort of thing Azinger will be looking for, and it’s probably fair to say a player such as McCarron would have to win this week, and play well the next two weeks, to earn selection.
“I’m doing a lot of things well,” said McCarron, perhaps hoping his comments get back to Azinger. “I’m driving the ball in the fairway, hitting a lot of good iron shots, making some putts.
“I started playing well around Dallas (Byron Nelson Championship in April). I’ve been working with Jim Hardy and something clicked on the range that week and started getting me back hitting it the way I wanted to hit it.”
