Ryder Cup
It sure sounds like five of the six U.S. Ryder Cup captain's picks are decided
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Daniel Berger plays his shot from the 15th tee during the second round of the 2021 Players Championship.
Sam Greenwood
ATLANTA ā U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker will name his six captainās picks on Wednesday, but it sure sounds like only one remains a mystery.
Itās natural to think this weekās Tour Championship would double as an audition of sortsāone last chance to make a case and allābut both Stricker and players on the bubble have made it clear that while playing well this week can only help, no decisions will be made off of four rounds on one golf course. More body-of-work, less what-have-you-done-for-me-lately.
Itās an open secret that the four players ranked 7-10 on the pointsāXander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Tony FInau and Harris Englishāare getting the call. Spieth all but confirmed heās in after a 67 on Friday. āMe and Justin (Thomas) have been joking with Strick for quite a while now about sending him our best-ball scores when one of us plays really well and the other doesn't. And I feel like Justin might withdraw from the team if he doesn't pick me, so I feel pretty good about it.ā
Another Class of 2011āer suggested heās expecting a pick as well: Daniel Berger.
āIāve talked to Strick a bunch of times this week,ā the World No. 18 said. āHis thoughts were that this doesnāt make a difference in terms of making the team or not. Itād be nice to have a really great week, but at this point in the season itās tough. Your body starts to break down, youāve played 25 events. Itās tough to mentally stay in it, thatās kind of the battle Iām dealing with right now.
āI think Iām in a great position. I finished 12th on the points list, and I played great golf for two years. ... He knows what I bring to the team. Iāve played on his team before at the Presidents Cup, and heās seen how I am with the other guys. The firepower I have with making putts, and chipping.
And later: ā(Stricker and I) texted here and there throughout the week. His message has been that he wants me on the team.ā
Noted. That would seem to leave one spot open for a number of candidates, all but one of whom is here this week. Webb Simpson is the lone man at home, having missed the Tour Championship after a quiet finish to the summer. Letās run through the guys who did make it to Atlanta, their cases, and what the men themselves think of their chances.
Patrick Reed
France aside, his Ryder Cup history speaks for itselfāheās one of the lone Americans to hold a winning record in the competition at 7-3-2. But heās perhaps the hardest one to handicap given his past couple weeks. On Thursday, Reed said his double pneumonia was so severe that doctors told him to text his family members in case he didnāt make it out of the hospital.
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Scottie Scheffler plays his shot on the 13th tee in his match against Jon Rahmduring the quarterfinal round of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Michael Reaves
After a one-under 69 on Friday, he seemed intent on making one thing clear: Heād be ready to go in three weeksā time.
āIām way ahead of schedule,ā he said. āMy doctors and my team told me Iād be 100 percent by the week before the Ryder Cup. As in being able to go full-out, do everything with full swings, workouts. Basically, not having to monitor my body.ā
Scottie Scheffler
The 25-year-old finished 14th in the Ryder Cup points race but has shown a penchant for big eventsāin the last six majors heās played in, he has four top-10 finishes and hasnāt been worse than T-18. Heās well down the leader board at East Lake after a two-over 72 but did not seem concerned that itād have any negative impact on his candidacy.
āI donāt think playing good golf here or the last couple events would equate to playing good in the Ryder Cup,ā Scheffler said. āLittle different environment, totally different style of golf. I like big events, I love the Ryder Cup, and I feel like itād be a tournament Iād perform well in.ā
Sam Burns
The LSU grad has had a breakout season, with a win at the Valspar Championship and runner-ups at the AT&T Byron Nelson and WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. But unlike Berger, he said his communication with Stricker has been minimal and he has not been tipped as to what might happen.
āI think Captain Stricker has a pretty good idea of what the team is gonna look like at this point,ā Burns said. āObviously Iām going to try to play my best, but I donāt know. I think he has a pretty good idea, but playing well never hurts. At this point itās out of my control. Iāve tried to play my best golf every week, and at the end of the day I hope Iām on the team, obviously, but if not, Iāll be rooting them on.ā
Kevin Na
Weāre now getting into serious dark-horse territory ... but perhaps itās unfair to describe Na that way. He has a win this year (at the Sony Open) and has two runner-ups and no finishes worse T-23 in his last five starts. After opening East Lake with 66-67, heās in good position to rack up another ultra-high finish against an elite field. His short game is the envy of his peersā"he can get up-and-down from a trash can,ā as Billy Horschel put itāand his early walk-ins of putts would surely fire up the American crowd. If it sounds like weāre lobbying for him, itās because the man wonāt do it himself.
āI havenāt texted Stricker once,ā Na said. āI donāt want to bug him. I donāt wanna be like āhey man, I can do something for you, I can help the team.ā I just donāt want to be that guy. It doesnāt mean I donāt want to be on the team. I want to be on the team as bad as anybody else. But itās just a little awkward saying āhey, pick me!āā
Billy Horschel
He was the impetus for a rule change in 2014, when he caught fire in the playoffs but didnāt get a pick because the picks had already been made. Now, of course, theyāre made after the playoffs. Horschel won the WGC-Dell
Technologies Match Play in March but was realistic about his chances given a so-so summer.
āIāve been told everythingās on the table,ā Horschel said. āBut if it was decided right now, or before we teed off yesterday, I donāt make the Ryder Cup team in my opinion. I donāt think I should make the Ryder Cup team.ā