Dubai: If Europe don’t change their Ryder Cup selection system they are going to struggle against the Americans in Paris next September, according to world renowned golf coach Pete Cowan.

At present European team selections must comprise of the top four in the European Tour’s Order of Merit and the top four from the world rankings (both at the time of the tournament), as well as four captain’s picks.

But Cowan, who has had five players win Majors while under his guidance — Darren Clarke, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Danny Willett and Henrik Stenson — argues that every pick should be taken from the world rankings.

“If we don’t almost get 12 picks and leave it to the system we are going to struggle,” Cowan told Gulf News on a visit to Dubai this week.

“A lot of these tournaments are heavily weighted [on points] and it’s feasible to win a couple of them and get in but not be in good form come the Ryder Cup.

“To me, you should always pick your best 12 players and the world rankings don’t lie. We have nine in the top 20 at the moment and those nine should be virtually automatic. That’s what the world rankings are there for. The other three can be captain’s picks but you are still going to want to pick people from high up in the world rankings because they are obviously the best players.

“I know they want to protect the European Tour, but these players are still Europeans, just because they are high up in the world rankings it doesn’t mean they are not Europeans.

“We need to change the selection method because the Americans are so strong at the moment they could pick two teams, whereas our last four or five players are not of the same calibre.”

Of Americans gaining ground over the Europeans, he added: “The guard always changes in any sport. All of a sudden they have so many great young players and we’ve got a few but probably not enough. It’s swings and roundabouts. We’ve had it good for 10-15 years but there’s always change and that’s what’s happened.

“Americans play their events for big money, haven’t needed to travel and get comfortable and have become good.

“Their system is getting better for youngsters. When they come out of college they are already able to compete. The kid that has just won the Tour Championship [Xander Schauffele] is a rookie, so that just shows you the standards they [Europe] are up against now. I certainly can’t see a rookie coming into our system and winning the Race to Dubai and DP World Tour Championship all in one.”

Tommy Fleetwood currently leads the Race to Dubai €1 million (Dh4.3 million) clear of Sergio Garcia with six events remaining. Both are former clients of Cowan.

“It all depends on these next few events,” Cowan said of the run in. “Each of the remaining events is worth a million so if anyone wins one or two of them it could all change and it’s feasible that someone else could come through.

“Saying that, Sergio hasn’t really pushed on since the Masters so he’s not catching up and nobody behind them is one fire, so it could be that Tommy is uncatchable come Dubai.”

Last year’s Race to Dubai winner, Henrik Stenson, another of Cowan’s clients, is 18th in the standings.

“I don’t know why, after winning the Open last year and then the Race to Dubai maybe he breathed a sigh of relief. Obviously he’ll want to make up for a disappointing season and hopefully we can turn him around quickly enough.”

And of sixth placed Rory McIlroy ruling himself out until 2018, thus missing Dubai, Cowan added: “That’s him done this season, obviously in any sport if you’re not fit you need to get yourself there before you can get back in the mix.”