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Claims about a golf “boys club” exploded after the US Ryder Cup team was unveiled.
The American captain Zach Johnson was not willing to go to Rome to play the Cup without Justin Thomas. And he made it sound like Brooks Koepka was just as easy a call.
They were among six captains’ picks announced to round out a 12-man USA squad that will try to end three decades of losing on European soil, while also preparing Johnson for the usual dose of doubt if it all goes wrong.
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Thomas is considered by players on both teams to be the emotional spark for the US team at the Ryder Cup, despite his 6-2-1 record in two previous appearances. But he hasn’t won in 15 months and played so poorly this year that he didn’t even finish in the top 70 to make the FedEx Cup playoffs.
“Without question, he’s been the heart and soul of Team USA,” Johnson said. “In my opinion, he was born for this. Just don’t leave JT at home.”
Thomas said he had trouble sleeping in the days leading up to the phone call, and then couldn’t sleep after he was cast because of his excitement.
“I’m very, very lucky to be here,” Thomas said.
Koepka has been knocked out of all six automatic qualifiers in the last week. No one would have thought twice about selecting him as the PGA Championship winner and Masters runner-up, except he’s part of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf and its 54-hole, 48-man course events.
Turns out that wasn’t a problem. “It was a pretty easy choice,” Johnson said.
“It’s built in my mind for the biggest stages, and there’s no stage bigger than the Ryder Cup.”
The other four selections were Jordan Spieth and Collin Morikawa, both part of the United States’ defeat of Europe in 2021 at Whistling Straits, along with Rickie Fowler and Sam Burns, the only Ryder Cup rookie among the six selections.
The six qualifiers were Scottie Scheffler, US Open champion Wyndham Clark, British Open champion Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele.
Left out of the team was Cameron Young, who has finished in the top 10 in four of the last seven majors and was number 9 in the Ryder Cup standings; Keegan Bradley (No.11), a two-time winner this season and who has played in two Ryder Cups; and Lucas Glover, one of the best players in golf with two victories in the last four weeks.
This led to speculation about the role the buddy system played, and to claims that the “boys club” had won again.
Spieth and Thomas have been best friends since they were 14 years old and have built a strong partnership at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup – 8-2-0, most notably a 3-1 record before a hostile crowd in France in 2018 .
Burns is best friends with Scheffler and finished 12th in the Ryder Cup standings, his only win this year in the Dell Match Play over Young. He missed the cut in two of the four majors. He and Scheffler went 0-2-1 as partners in the Presidents Cup last year.
Fowler came out of a deep crisis by winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic. One of the most likeable golfers around, he is close friends with Spieth, Thomas, and just about everyone else. He was 13th in the Ryder Cup standings and while this will be his fifth Ryder Cup team, it was the third time he has relied on the choice of a captain. His record in the Ryder Cup is 3-7-5.
Fowler did not win his first match until his third Ryder Cup appearance.
Johnson said the six automatic qualifiers had some ownership in the team and contributed to the discussion of the six selections, most recently meeting a week ago in Atlanta during the Tour Championship. He made it sound like the options were already set.
“I think the elements that I mentioned before (space in the team, camaraderie, guys getting along, wanting to be together, adapting to the field, experience) all those factors and what the top six are based on, those factors weigh. heavier than I would say in the last two weeks of competition,” Johnson said.
The American team will have four Ryder Cup rookies (Clark, Harman, Homa and Burns) and four players who have played a Ryder Cup abroad. Fowler has played in Wales, Scotland and France, and his record in those away games is 1-6-5.
Johnson said he called out the majority of Americans on the Ryder Cup points list who didn’t make the team to 20 points. That didn’t include Dustin Johnson, who went 5-0 at Whistling Straits, or other LIV players like Bryson DeChambeau.
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