Watson, Wadkins Selected to Fill Out Ryder Cup Team

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Raymond Floyd plumped for experience today in naming Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins to fill the last two spots on the Ryder Cup golf team to play Europe next month.

They join 10 other players who had already earned berths on the team that will try to regain the trophy at the Belfry in central England Sept. 22-24 and avoid losing the biennial series for the third time in a row.

The other team members are British Open champion Mark Calcavecchia, U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange, PGA champion Payne Stewart, Tom Kite, Chip Beck, Paul Azinger, Fred Couples, Ken Green, Mark O’Meara and Mark McCumber.

Floyd had indicated after the PGA championship ended Sunday that he might choose two seasoned players to round out the team as five of the 10 who had automatically earned spots would be appearing in the match play event for the first time--Beck, Azinger, Couples, Green and McCumber.

Five-time British Open champion Watson had been strongly favored to make the team for the fourth time after a recent return to form which has seen him finish fourth in this year’s British Open and tie for ninth in the PGA, but Wadkins was something of a surprise.

Explaining his choice of Wadkins, Floyd said at a press conference during practice for a PGA Tour event in Castle Rock that the former PGA champion “is a five-time Ryder Cup player with a 13-7 record and is a strong player when playing overseas. He’s got that fierce, competitive attitude.”