"All he said was, 'Roc, I didn't pick you,' He didn't give a reason"

Some nice Ryder Cup reporting today, starting with Mike Dudurich talking to Rocco about not getting selected.

"All he said was, 'Roc, I didn't pick you,' He didn't give a reason," Mediate said. "I'm extremely sad and extremely disappointed."

Barker Davis takes exception with the J.B. Holmes selection, offering this:

Still, it's difficult to see Holmes' popularity in the Bluegrass State outweighing his lack thereof in the team room. If a random sampling of PGA players named the three least-liked guys on tour, Holmes might finish second to Rory Sabbatini. Why? Because the 26-year-old has no social skills. His boorish behavior and poor personal hygiene are running jokes on the PGA Tour. Given that Azinger was supposed to be a more connected captain than recent out-of-touch U.S. skippers Hal Sutton and Tom Lehman, the selection of Holmes seems almost comically misinformed.

"Personality matters," Azinger said at Tuesday's news conference. "If you have guys that are not getting along or whatever, it makes a difference."

Jill Painter isn't too wild about Hunter Mahan's selection after his critical comments in Golf Magazine.

The selection of Mahan would have been like Barack Obama making Hillary Clinton his running mate. She ripped him during her campaign, which makes it challenging to turn around and join his team. She supports Obama now, we get that. He won the Democratic nomination. Mahan can support the U.S. Ryder Cup, too. He just didn't need to be part of the team.

"I think we have all moved on from those comments," Mahan said on Tuesday's Cup conference call. "I'm just looking forward to the Ryder Cup. I'm going to enjoy every second of it."

How's he going to enjoy it if he feels like a slave?

On the Euro side, Larry Dorman notes this about Ian Poulter's selection:

Poulter will be under more pressure to perform at the Ryder Cup than any player in the recent history of the event. Everything he does will be scrutinized in light of his friendship with Faldo and the suspicion, vehemently denied by both, that Poulter had been assured of a berth on the team even before he decided to pass up the Johnnie Walker Championship last week at Gleneagles, Scotland, to play at the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston, where he missed the cut.

Patrick Kidd talks to Sam Torrance, who explains (with examples) why Captain Faldo is making a huge mistake only carrying one vice-captain.

"I was a wee bit surprised that he has only gone with himself and Olly [Jose Maria Olazabal, the only named vice-captain]," Torrance, the 2002 Europe captain, said. "He wants to gain all the information himself about the players but he can't do that, he won't have the time.

In an unbylined Sporting Life piece, Darren Clarke tries to absolve Ian Poulter of blame but makes sure to note that Nick Faldo changed his selection criteria.

Elaborating on his belief that Faldo did not hold true to his initial plans for his captain's picks, Clarke added: "Earlier in the year, Nick had stated that he wanted his players to be on form, he wasn't going to pay particular attention to the rankings.

"I thought I was on good form, my record this year has been a couple of good wins and lots of top 10s, but unfortunately he changed his mind, and you know, I've got to bank with that.