Former Ryder Cup captain sympathizes with Zach Johnson and Luke Donald: "I had 5 guys I wanted to pick, and only had 2 picks”

Zach Johnson and Luke Donald just finished undergoing the less-than-enviable task of choosing six golfers for their respectiveRyder Cup teams. After six automatic qualifiers earned spots, the remaining six had to be chosen by the captains. That always means someone's going to be left off, even if the captains don't make controversial selections.

Both of them made selections that other people would not have and some criticism has been levied as a result. In the wake of that, one former Ryder Cup captain is sympathizing with the captains' impossible situation.

Bernhard Langer said via SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio:

"I was in those shoes once, I was captain once and I had five guys I wanted to pick, and I only had two picks. I had to leave three out and that was the toughest thing."

He added:

"To grab that phone or face the guy face-to-face and tell them, 'Hey, you're a great player, but you didn't make the team.' That's no fun. As much joy as you get out of the other ones... there's just so many great players."

Many of those great players get left out, just as a result of there being 12 slots per team, six of which can't be changed.

Luke Donald's team consists of the following golfers, the latter six of which were his picks:

Rory McIlroy (qualifier)
Jon Rahm (qualifier)
Matt Fitzpatrick (qualifier)
Viktor Hovland (qualifier)
Tyrrell Hatton (qualifier)
Robert MacIntyre (qualifier)
Tommy Fleetwood (selection)
Sepp Straka (selection)
Justin Rose (selection)
Shane Lowry (selection)
Nicolai Hojaard (selection)
Ludvig Aberg (selection)

The lack of Yannik Paul and Adrian Meronk has surprised many people. Regardless, they will be up against Zach Johnson's side which has its own snubs:

Scottie Scheffler (Automatic Qualification)
Brian Harman (Automatic Qualification)
Wyndham Clark (Automatic Qualification)
Patrick Cantlay (Automatic Qualification)
Max Homa (Automatic Qualification)
Xander Schauffele (Automatic Qualification)
Sam Burns (Captain's Pick)
Rickie Fowler (Captain's Pick)
Brooks Koepka (Captain's Pick)
Collin Morikawa (Captain's Pick)
Jordan Spieth (Captain's Pick)
Justin Thomas (Captain's Pick)

Many believed Keegan Bradley, Cameron Young or Lucas Glover should have been considered. But this is the roster for Italy and these two teams will take on each other at the end of the month.

Zach Johnson and Luke Donald faced impossible decisions for Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is a tough selection process. Over the few seasons, points are accumulated to earn automatic qualifiers. It's tough to maintain a top-six placement over the length of time that's required. That leaves things up to each captain, which is hard on them.

Choosing to leave good golfers out is hard, and there are so many good golfers right now that the choice is almost impossible. Zach Johnson had to choose an out-of-form Justin Thomas and an LIV Golf member, which sparked some controversy.

Luke Donald had a wealth of players to choose from, all of which would have been worthy selections. In the end, he ignored some in favor of youth, which has given his current roster an interesting mix. The world will see if their selections work out at the end of the month.