If captain Colin Montgomerie had not picked the 29-year-old Italian to make his Ryder Cup debut alongside his brother there may have been a riot because the case he presented was magnificent. At the beginning of 2009 Molinari was playing on the second tier of European golf but in the next 20 months he won three times on the Challenge Tour, once in Japan, triumphed in the World Cup alongside his brother and then, six months later, and now in the world's top 50, he added the Scottish Open. But he still arrived at Gleneagles for the Johnnie Walker Championship, the final event for qualifying, with no guarantee of a place in the Ryder Cup team. No matter: he forced his way into the last pairing of the final day (yet again alongside brother Francesco) and then, when he needed each and every one of them, he completed the round with three birdies to overhaul Brett Rumford and claim the trophy. The watching world was in awe; Montgomerie had no choice but to acknowledge the feat and hand him a wildcard selection.