European captain Darren Clarke named his three wild cards ahead of the 41st Ryder Cup on Tuesday (30th August), experienced campaigners Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, plus the in-form 24 year-old Belgian, Thomas Pieters.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Lee Westwood:

(on how proud he is of his record in the Ryder Cup)

"Yeah, incredibly proud. It's... when I look back over my career, you know, it's provided most of the really special moments and something that I love looking back on. As Darren said, he sort of knows what I can do in the Ryder Cup and what I can bring, so it was great to get the call yesterday and get the pick, which... you know, myself and Darren are very close, I didn't want to put him in a position to pick me, I would have liked to have played my way on, but obviously I was very relieved and thrilled at the same time to get the pick."

"Yeah, it's going to be a very tough task, you can't make any bones about that, the US side is going to be very strong, but I think we're equally as strong. It's a great mix of experience and youth, you know the rookies on our team have got experience of playing over in the States. Danny Willett is obviously the Masters champion, we've got people who have won the US Amateurs and things like that, so I think it's going to be a very close contest. Obviously, the crowd is going to be on their side, but we've come up against this before and I think we're ready to give our all and like Darren said, I think he's got a very strong side and he's got lots of options for partnerships."