New York, NY -- (Sports Network) - United States Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger selected Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan, J.B. Holmes and Chad Campbell to round out his team on Tuesday.

Campbell is the only selection made on Tuesday with Ryder Cup experience. He played in the last two biennial events between the U.S. and Europe, amassing a 1-3-2 record.

Stricker and Mahan have participated in the Presidents Cup, while Holmes has no professional international team competition experience. Holmes was the only pick who has won this year on the PGA Tour.

"I was mulling it as late as last night," said Azinger. "I had a short list, but I also had to look at the guys that went all the way down to 25th on the list.

"In the end, I settled on these four guys."

This is the first Ryder Cup where an American captain got four picks. Azinger also was allowed to make his selection three weeks after the finalization of the automatic eight spots, a change to the old system where the captain tabbed his choices the day after the completion of the PGA Championship.

This created essentially a three-week try-out period for those final four spots, but Sweden's Carl Pettersson and Vijay Singh won those three tournaments, leaving Azinger with some tough calls.

The three-week wait was designed to get the hottest players prior to the Ryder Cup. That did not work out as intended, but Azinger got his men.

"Nobody really jumped off the page," acknowledged Azinger.

Azinger got the PGA of America to change the scoring system for this Ryder Cup. The top-eight players qualified automatically after the PGA Championship on a points system based on money earned.

The other significant change Azinger received, was that points were based almost entirely on this season. Only points in 2007 major championships counted toward this team and points were doubled in this year's major championships.

The American automatic eight qualifiers included world No. 1 Tiger Woods, but he will not participate.

Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis and Boo Weekley received the eight places.

European captain Nick Faldo picked Paul Casey and Ian Poulter for his side on Sunday.

Two-time major winner this year Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Robert Karlsson, Henrik Stenson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson earned automatic spots.

The Ryder Cup will be played September 19-21, 2008 at Valhalla Golf Club. The European side has won the last three Ryder Cups, including the last two in blowout fashions.

Stricker, who has been close to making Ryder Cup teams in the past, has two appearances in the Presidents Cup. He played in 1996 and 2007 and built a 5-5 record in those events.

"I liked Steve from the get go," admitted Azinger.

Stricker flew out of the gate this year with six top-14s in his first seven starts. He tailed off a bit during the middle of the season, but Stricker has not missed a cut since late May.

Mahan was one of Jack Nicklaus' picks for last year's Presidents Cup team and went 2-3. He was undefeated in foursomes and in his two wins he was paired with Stricker.

Mahan was under some scrutiny in Ryder Cup circles. Earlier in the summer Mahan made some negative comments about the amount of money involved in the Ryder Cup, but he apologized and is on his first team.

Azinger acknowledged he liked both Stricker and Holmes early in the process. Holmes held the third-round lead of the PGA Championship, but a disastrous, final-round 81 dropped him out of the top 20.

Holmes is third on the tour in driving distance and is a Kentucky native. He has played countless rounds at Valhalla, and, along with fellow Kentuckian Perry, could give the U.S. an even larger home advantage.

Campbell might have been the biggest surprise. He has three top-10s in the last six starts, but Campbell was 20th on the final American points list after the PGA.

"When I narrowed my list down to three or four players, his name came up a lot," said Campbell. "When I started crunching numbers on Chad, knowing his personality, knowing the way he hits it, then after talking to Chad, I knew right away he was the right guy."

Campbell tied for seventh place Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship. His wife is due to give birth at any time, and in fact, Campbell was sitting in the parking lot of the doctor's office during Tuesday's press conference.

Azinger deflected comments about players he did not take on Tuesday. Woody Austin, Rocco Mediate, D.J. Trahan and Sean O'Hair were some players that might have been close to a spot.

"There are a lot of players I could have picked," stated Azinger. "I don't want to try to justify why I didn't pick the guys I didn't pick. I have some really good friends I'd like to have picked."