U.S. Ryder Cup choices? No sure things
There's a lot to digest for American captain Bradley: Stray Shots: Eventful opener
Is Patrick Cantlay’s hat — or no hat —- in the ring to don red, white and blue again? (David Cannon/Getty Images)
The top six automatic qualifiers on the U.S. Ryder Cup team will be decided following this week’s BMW Championship, but the wild-card captain’s pick candidates to fill the remaining six roster spots are probably not striking fear among the European group.
No knock on the Americans, who will once again field a highly-rated team of more than capable players at the end of next month at Bethpage Black. But the group vying for the last places haven’t exactly come out and made overwhelming cases for inclusion.
Sure, Ben Griffin has had a strong year, Chris Gotterup made a late push and Cameron Young finally got his first PGA Tour win to enter the conversation. But who, really, do you believe absolutely has to be competing for Team USA next month on Long Island?
That’s the problem. Whatever name or two you might mention will almost certainly get pushback. Perhaps that speaks to American depth, but it also speaks to a lack of conviction.
As it stands, the six automatic qualifiers are Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English. Scheffler, Spaun and Schauffele are already locked in.
No matter what happens this week in the BMW Championship at Caves Valley — if someone in the top six gets bumped out, for example — those six guys are still going to be on the team.
Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa — currently seventh and eighth in Ryder Cup points — are also almost assuredly going to be on the squad regardless. That’s the easy part.
Getting to the next four is where the process becomes difficult. Or at least on the outside it appears to be.
In order of current points, Griffin, Keegan Bradley, Maverick McNealy, Andrew Novak, Brian Harman, Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns making up the next eight spots. You can make an argument for or against any of them.
Behind the scenes it could very well be much more clear cut. Bradley and his vice captains — including former U.S. captain Jim Furyk — have been poring over the data for months and certainly have some potential pairings already in mind. That might mean more than a snapshot of how well someone is performing in advance of the Ryder Cup.
Cantlay, for instance, is a compelling case because he’s played on the last five U.S. international teams dating back to the 2019 Presidents Cup. He’s never lost a singles match and is a combined 15-6-1. He was 2-2 in Rome two years ago on a team that had just one U.S. player with a winning record (Max Homa, who is nowhere near being part of this team).
Cantlay’s also been a formidable partner with Schauffele, who has struggled a good bit of this year, although they went 0-2 together in Rome.
When asked if he would pick himself, Cantlay gave a coy response.
“Fortunately, I’m not in that predicament,” he said. “Keegan, however, is in that predicament. If I was the captain, I;d pick Keegan. I think he’s played great.”
Bradley, who won the Travelers Championship in June, is ranked 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking but has sputtered a bit since his Travelers win in June, missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship before a pedestrian tie for 44th last week in Memphis.
Cantlay and Bradley often play together at home and joined up for a practice round on Tuesday at Caves Valley, as they did in advance of last month’s Open Championship where Cantlay missed a cut in his third straight major.
Bradley tied for 30th at Royal Portrush and seemed like a lock for his own team. There are lots of questions about his form now, though.
“I would pick him too,” said Rickie Fowler, who rallied to make it to the BMW Championship and is unlikely to be part of his sixth Ryder Cup team this time. “I think it would be hard to find really many Americans that would argue that point. We’ll see. I know he’s maybe getting to the area of the 10, 11 number on points of where he may think, like, is this a spot where I should not pick myself? I feel like a lot of times there’s really only one or two that maybe fluctuate based off of people that were maybe inside the top 12 on points that maybe don’t get picked. Like I said, I don’t think you’re going to find any or many Americans that are going to argue that he shouldn’t be on the team.
“Obviously you want guys that are playing well or are trending that way. I mean, two big things at Bethpage … you’d like to look at all the stats and all the guys being top in those categories, but I feel like driving the ball well is something that is very beneficial or needed at Bethpage, and obviously putting when it comes to match play. To me those are the two areas I feel like seeing how guys are doing in those spots — I can’t remember all the guys that are necessarily in the mix of all that. But current form, if you’re diving into it, I think the driving and the putting are probably the two biggest parts for me that I would look at for a place like Bethpage.”
That seems like a fair assessment, although it is also wise to point out that on Friday, the Ryder Cup will still be 42 days away. Form can be fleeting. A good week now means little in late September.
So who will it be? We will know six players for sure on Sunday. Bradley then makes his remaining picks on Aug. 27.
Stray Shots: Jolly good show, Memphis
By Peter Kaufman
1. PGA Tour on fire: What a tournament the FedEx St. Jude Championship was and what a Sunday of terrific golf and excitement. A fabulous finish that was a total treat for golf fans.