Paul Azinger picks three Ryder rookies

US captain Paul Azinger has picked Chad Campbell, Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan and JB Holmes as his wildcards for this month's Ryder Cup contest with Europe.

Campbell is the only one of the quartet with previous Ryder Cup experience.

Holmes, who is from Kentucky and knows the host Valhalla course, is the only pick to have won an event this year.

Mahan is in despite saying players were "slaves" during tournament week while Stricker just missed out on automatic qualification for the team.

The quartet join Stewart Cink, Phil Mickelson, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Ben Curtis, Justin Leonard and Boo Weekley in a US line-up that is without injured world number one Tiger Woods.

With the addition of Stricker, Mahan and Holmes, the American team features six rookies in all, with Kim, Curtis and Weekley also experiencing the event for the first time.

The European team finalised on Sunday features four rookies, who all qualified automatically - Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson.

"I thought we rounded off this team with the best possible players at this time," said Azinger. "It really depended on how the players performed in the last four weeks.

"We're missing Tiger Woods, the greatest player on earth, which is a big blow to us but I really like my team."

Azinger, a veteran of four Ryder Cups, is aiming to lead the US to their first Ryder Cup victory since the win at Brookline in 1999.

He was named skipper in November last year and immediately revamped the selection, changing the number of wildcard picks from two to four.

And he then asked to delay his selections three weeks in the hope of allowing players to find some form.

However, of the last nine US Tour events the only two American winners were the little-known pair Chez Reavie and Parker McLachlin.

Courtesy : BBC