Bryson Ryder Cup bound, but no bonding

LIV star ineligible to join mates in Napa tour event; Scheffler wins en route to East Lake

Bryson DeChambeau drew huge crowds in Indy and will at Bethpage, too … but not in Napa. (Charles Laberge/LIV Golf)

Bryson DeChambeau should be commended for earning a place on the U.S. Ryder Cup team with far fewer opportunities than just about anyone else who was in the running for one of the six automatic spots that were decided on Sunday.

While DeChambeau was playing in LIV Golf’s final individual event of the year without the ability to earn points, the rest of those in contention were using their last opportunity at the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship to try and secure a spot on the 12-man team.

DeChambeau, the two-time U.S. Open champion, secured the final spot based on his play in just eight qualifying events — the major championships of the past two years. Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley and Harris English locked down the other five automatic spots.

Last year’s majors counted the same in points — based on prize money — as a regular event this year. The majors in 2025 got a 1.5-point boost. DeChambeau, of course, has had an excellent run in the majors, winning last year’s U.S. Open, finishing second two years in a row at the PGA Championship and posting top-10s in three other majors while missing two cuts.

The LIV Golf and YouTube star should be a force at Bethpage Black and a big crowd favorite.

DeChambeau, however, did himself no favors with his comments about wanting to play in next month’s Procore Championship on the PGA Tour with the rest of the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Whether you agree or not with the PGA Tour’s position, it is painfully clear that LIV golfers are not playing in PGA Tour events anytime soon, not even ones meant to bolster team spirit for good ole USA.

Since the start of the LIV Golf-PGA Tour acrimony in 2022, the PGA Tour suspended those members who played in LIV events and decreed that their participation was deemed to be unauthorized. Nobody who has had PGA Tour status has played in a PGA Tour event if they played for LIV Golf.

When Hudson Swafford, who hasn’t played for LIV Golf since the end of 2024, is told he won’t be eligible until 2027, you understand the hard line the tour has taken. Even for a popular player like DeChambeau, the idea of bending the rules or making an exception was folly.

That didn’t stop DeChambeau from telling Sports Illustrated on Friday that he had hoped to be given an exemption to the Napa, California, event that begins on Sept. 11 and where the other members of the U.S. team are expected to play to shake the rust off after the post-Tour Championship layoff.

“That’s up to the tour and their decision to make,” DeChambeau said. “It’s on them if they don’t let us come together as a team and play.”

And yet, the PGA Tour has maintained its stance all along, saying that DeChambeau is ineligible to compete at the first FedEx Cup fall event.

DeChambeau’s agent, Brett Falkoff, said that no formal effort was made to play in Napa but that the golfer “plans to participate in every team gathering that he is permitted to attend.”

U.S. captain Keegan Bradley has worked behind the scenes for the better part of this year attempting to get those who he believes will be on the team to play in the Procore Championship as a bridge between this week’s Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup, which begins on Sept. 26 and is still more than five weeks away.

“My plan as of now is to go play in Napa,” world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said before winning again in the BMW Championship. “Outside of some extenuating circumstances, I’ll probably be playing in Napa.”

That was a big endorsement of the idea. Getting Scheffler on board should lead to others, if not all, of team heading to California for the event two weeks ahead of the Ryder Cup.

“I think when you look at the last Ryder Cup (a U.S. defeat in Rome in 2023), I think that was maybe a bit too much time off for us,” Scheffler said. “It’s one of those deals, it’s tough. When you get to the end of the PGA Tour season, I think you’re a little bit tired. You look at a year like last year I had, when it came to the end of the season, I was pretty worn out. It took a lot out of me. It was important for me to get rest.

“I think now with the way the schedule is, I think there’s like four weeks after the Tour Championship before the Ryder Cup, and that’s plenty of time to get rest while still staying competitive. It’s important for me to get out and get some competitive reps before the Ryder Cup. I felt like last time was maybe a bit too much time off.”

Bradley said it would not be required for all of his Team USA players to tee it up at the Procore. As for DeChambeau, the U.S. captain clearly was put in an awkward position when asked about it. He knows the rules and said so. He also said that DeChambeau “had to come to us. And he’s been great about that. He’s going to be ready.”

DeChambeau does have options if he wants to play. Both the Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour could, in theory, offer invites. Though it wouldn’t be an effort to do a favor for Team Europe’s opponent and would only be based on the draw DeChambeau is.

Bradley has more important things on his mind now, anyway. We has to round out his squad with six captain’s picks by August 27 — and that includes deciding if he’s going to be one of them and serve as a playing captain.

Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa, who hold down the seventh and eight spots, have hardly been stellar of late but are good bets to be picked. That would leave four spots for a candidates that include Maverick McNealy, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Andrew Novak, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Chris Gotterup and Sam Burns. And Bradley, who seemed like a lock himself to be on his own team when he won the Travelers Championship before a string of mediocre results since.

The Tour Championship at East Lake offers a final chance to impress. Does one tournament matter at this point? Maybe.

Meanwhile, the European team’s top six will be decided following this week’s Betfred British Masters. The European players who are in the Tour Championship cannot earn points in Atlanta. Luke Donald’s captain’s picks will come a week later after the European Masters.

The six automatic European qualifiers at the moment are Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, Tyrrell Hatton and Sepp Straka. If any of the latter two fall out, they will surely get picked.

As will Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Ludvig Åberg and Viktor Hovland. That would leave room for two players — or maybe just one if you consider Matt Fitzpatrick a lock. Rasmus Højgaard could have gone a long way to making himself an easy choice before losing a lead down the stretch on Sunday in the Danish Golf Championship.

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As if a fifth 2025 wasn’t enough, Scottie Scheffler got 2 trophies after BMW win (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Scottie wins again as East Lake field sets

He gets no extra credit or “starting strokes” for yet another winning effort, but Scottie Scheffler still showed everyone — again — why he’s the best player in the world and on the PGA Tour regardless of who gets crowned FedEx Cup champion at this week’s Tour Championship.

Scheffler delivered an exclamation point on his second straight incomparable PGA Tour season with a two-shot victory in the BMW Championship at Caves Valley on Sunday. The only comparable once again was Tiger Woods since Scheffler’s defining winning shot was a seeing-eye pitch-in for birdie from 81 feet on the par-3 17th hole — a shot somewhat reminiscent of Tiger’s parabolic hole-out from behind the par-3 16th at Augusta in 2005 en route to winning the Masters.

“Anytime you hole a chip like that, it’s pretty nice,” Scheffler said. “It looked good when it landed, looked good when it was rolling, and it was nice to see that one go in.”

While everyone else in the 50-player field at Caves Valley was just jockeying to make the final 30 that will play for the FedEx Cup at East Lake in the season finale, Scheffler delivered the message that he’s still the man to beat with his fifth win of the season in his last 10 starts — two majors, one signature event, one playoff event and his hometown Byron Nelson.

His timely pitch-in came when it mattered most and the tournament still hung in the balance as he nursed a one-shot lead. Scheffler 17th consecutive round under par was too much for MacIntyre or anyone else. His 17th hole-out enabled him to play the wicked par-3 under par for the week despite never once hitting the green in regulation.

“I played smart off the tee — that’s obviously the miss there,” he said of his tee shot over the back left of the green despite a far-right pin. “Part of me wanted to go at the pin, and I kind of held off there on the left side. I knew par wasn’t going to be a bad score on that hole today.”

Runner-up Robert MacIntyre, whose four-shot 54-hole lead quickly evaporated with three bogeys in his first five holes, could only watch helplessly and applaud as his chances to win disappeared much like in the U.S. Open when he watched J.J. Spaun hole a cross-green birdie putt on the last to snuff his hopes.

“I can’t control what he does. … If he doesn’t get up-and-down (on 17) and my ball didn’t fly two yards long, it may have been a different story,” MacIntyre said. “But look, he’s the better player on the day. … Right now I want to go and smash up my golf clubs, to be honest with you.”

Scheffler will need to win at East Lake to become the first player to win consecutive FedEx Cups. Under the revised system, the FedEx Cup champion will be determined purely on who wins the Tour Championship at Atlanta with all 30 players starting even in pursuit of the $10 million prize from the official $40 million purse. But he at least pockets another $5 million for leading the points race after the second playoff event.

Sungjae Im, Chris Gotterup and Akshay Bhatia claimed the last three top-30 spots. Michael Kim got knocked from 30th to 31st when his playing partner, Viktor Hovland, birdied the 72nd. “Viktor and I used to be friends …” Kim posted on social media. Rickie Fowler’s late season surge had him inside the top 30 until a double bogey on the 15th hole killed his climb and eventually dropped him to 32nd.

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Tour Championship qualifiers

1. Scottie Scheffler

2. Rory McIlroy

3. J.J. Spaun

4. Justin Rose

5. Tommy Fleetwood

6. Ben Griffin

7. Russell Henley

8. Sepp Straka

9. Robert MacIntyre

10. Maverick McNealy

11. Harris English

12. Justin Thomas

13. Cameron Young

14. Ludvig Åberg

15. Andrew Novak

16. Keegan Bradley

17. Sam Burns

18. Brian Harman

19. Corey Conners

20. Patrick Cantlay

21. Collin Morikawa

22. Viktor Hovland

23. Hideki Matsuyama

24. Shane Lowry

25. Nick Taylor

26. Harry Hall

27. Jacob Bridgeman

28. Sungjae Im

29. Chris Gotterup

30. Akshay Bhatia

First five out

31. Michael Kim

32. Rickie Fowler

33. Taylor Pendrith

34. Matt Fitzpatrick

35. Kurt Kitayama