First 8 US Ryder Cup Members Announced
The 2018 Ryder Cup is right around the corner and the US looks to defend its title at Le Golf National in France starting September 28th. Eight of the twelve spots were filled after the conclusion of Brooks Koepka’s win at Bellerive this weekend. And this US team is one of the strongest ones in recent memory.
The Top 8
- Brooks Koepka
- Dustin Johnson
- Justin Thomas
- Patrick Reed
- Jordan Spieth
- Rickie Fowler
- Bubba Watson
- Webb Simpson
The U.S has three of the four major winners with Patrick Reed winning the Masters and Brooks Koepka winning both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. DJ, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas are the top three golfers in the world with Jordan and Rickie at eight and nine. The top eight for the United States all rank in the top 20 (Reed 12, Watson 14, Simpson 20).
There are only three golfers in the top 20 who won’t be in the Ryder Cup, Jason Day (Australia), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), and Marc Leishman (Australia). Fair to say that this U.S. team is LOADED.
The Next 4
The other four spots on the U.S. Team will be selected by team captain Jim Furyk. He plans to announce three picks after the Dell Technologies Championship on September 3rd, and make his final pick after the BMW Championship on September 9th.
The four golfers on the bubble according to points are Bryson DeChambeau (9), Phil Mickelson (10), Tiger Woods (11), and Xander Schauffele (12). The following four after them are Matt Kuchar, Kevin Kisner, Tony Finau, and Kyle Stanley. Out of those eight golfers it’s pretty safe to say that Phil and Tiger are locks for captains picks based on their experience.
Tiger Woods
I know that I’ve been hard on Tiger this year but after seeing in the final round at the PGA Championship this weekend, he’s starting to get that vintage Tiger back. I’d love to see Tiger donning the red, white, and blue again in the Ryder Cup. But the tricky thing is who to pair him with? Tiger doesn’t necessarily bring the best out in his partner. He has a sub .500 record in foursomes (4-8-1) and four ball (5-8-0). He’s below .500 overall too with a 13-17-3 record but is 4-1-2 in singles matches.
Even more staggering, he’s only been a part of one winning Ryder Cup team in his career and that was back in 1999 when the Ryder Cup was played at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass. But Tiger was just 2-3-0 in that Ryder Cup. Even more staggering is that the U.S. is only 1-6 in Ryder Cup’s that Tiger has played in which isn’t exactly reassuring.
Europe Top 8
Francesco Molinari
Justin Rose
Tyrell Hatton
Tommy Fleetwood
Jon Rahm
Thorbjorn Olesen
Rory McIlroy
Alex Noren
Molinari has come on strong as of late especially winning The Open this year, the first Italian to do so. Tommy Fleetword had an amazing final round at the U.S. Open shooting 63 and has had a strong year overall. Both golfers were two of only nine golfers this year to make the cut in all four majors too. Team Europe would also have the Olympic Gold Medalist in Justin Rose and Olympic Silver Medalist Henrik Stenson currently sits 16th in Ryder Cup points for team Europe.
Looks like the early edge here goes to the United States.
–Brian Berard (@RockyBerard)