US Ryder Cup Zach Johnson has rounded out his Ryder Cup team with wildcards Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka.
Under the selection criteria, Johnson had six qualifiers and six captain’s picks to fill the team to face Europe at Marco Simon Golf Club near Rome September 29-October 1. World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, US Open champion Wyndham Clark, Open Championship winner Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele had qualified via a year-plus long points system that ended on August 20 following the BMW Championship.
Johnson wasn’t afraid to stir emotions with his captain’s picks for the US team in upcoming Ryder Cup in Italy.
Koepka, who won the PGA Championship in May, was picked despite leaving the PGA Tour last year for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League, while Justin Thomas didn’t play well enough to reach the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. However, Thomas is the current team’s emotional leader, with his total of nine matches across two Cups yielding 6.5 points for an impressive 72 per cent winning rate.
The Americans will try to win a second straight Ryder Cup after routing Europe in 2021 at Whistling Straits in the US, with the bigger task being beating the host team on its soil for the first time since 1993.
“To say I’m excited about these gents is an understatement,” Johnson said. “They check all of the boxes—fierce competitors, great versatility, great flexibility when it comes to the pairings.”
There are a handful of players who could definitely be upset about not being selected. Keegan Bradley, who was 11th in the US team standings and said he spent much of his waking hours thinking about the Ryder Cup, and Cameron Young, who was ninth, both ranked higher than Burns (No. 12). Lucas Glover put himself in the mix with two victories in the past month, and Tony Finau missed out, though he was 21st in the standings.
Though not much of a surprise because of his polarising position in the game, LIV’s Bryson DeChambeau was left off despite four top-10s, including as win at LIV Greenbrier that was highlighted by weekend rounds of 61-58 at The Old White at Greenbrier, this season.
The Americans will try to win a second straight Ryder Cup after routing Europe in 2021 at Whistling Straits, with the bigger task being beating the host team on its soil for the first time since 1993.
