Yannik Paul Opens Up On Ryder Cup Heartache After Missing Out On Rome

Yannik Paul has expressed his disappointment at missing out on Europe's Ryder Cup team after his fine early season form deserted him.

The German pro , 29, went into the Omega European Masters last weekend with 1,836.37 qualification points needing to finish in a two way tie for third or better to overhaul Robert MacIntyre in the third and final place on the European points list.

But Paul could only end up tied 20th in Switzerland to miss out on automatically qualifying for Luke Donald's team for later this month as MacIntyre made it instead. 

Paul responded on X, formerly know as Twitter: "I am obviously disappointed to not make the team. If you are in 3rd place for 90% of the time you want to end up being on the team. I just didn’t finish high enough on the leaderboard the last few events to earn my spot back. Good luck to @RyderCupEurope - bring the back."

Paul hit fine form earlier this year with runner-up finishes at the Thailand Classic and Hero Indian Open in February before three further top tens. But his form started to tail off as he later came tied 49th at Made In HimmerLand, tied 25th at the Scottish Open before missing the cut at The Open. A tenth place at the D+D Real Czech Masters wasn't enough to boost his prospects before he ultimately came up short at Crans-sur-Sierre last weekend. 

Poland's Adrian Meronk, 30, has also not been selected, despite winning the Italian Open on the Ryder Cup course in May and sitting third in the DP World Tour rankings. He needed to finish in at least a two way tie for second in Switzerland but came tied 13th as he reacted: "Good luck @RyderCupEurope."

Captain Donald assessed: "There were a number of players that you could make a good argument to be on that team that aren't. Those are difficult decisions. I've been in that position myself - I know what it feels like and it's gut-wrenching. I spoke to them all and it's never easy but they handled it with class."

Instead Europe's captain opted to select Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Nicolai Hojgaard for the 12-man team to face the United States in Rome.

They join Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and  MacIntyre - who claimed the six automatic qualification spots - in the side for the for the biennial match at Marco Simone from September 29 to October 1.

Denmark's Hojgaard and Austria's Straka will be making their debuts in the Ryder Cup alongwith Scotland's MacIntyre as Europe attempt to regain the Ryder Cup following a record 19-9 defeat at Whistling Straits to USA in 2021.