The PGA Tour will crown its seasonlong FedEx Cup champion in a winner-take-all Tour Championship, which tees off Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler won’t get starting strokes this time, as the tour has altered the format once again with all 30 golfers starting the 72-hole traditional tournament at even par.
There’s even more at stake for many of the golfers who will tee it up at East Lake with the 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York just over a month away.
Six golfers have already made the U.S. team: Scheffler, U.S. Open winner J.J. Spaun, two-time major champion Xander Schauffele, LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau and PGA Tour veterans Russell Henley and Harris English.
U.S. team captain Keegan Bradley will make six captain’s choices Aug. 27, three days after the final round of the Tour Championship.
Will Bradley choose himself to play at Bethpage Black? Who are locks to make the team? Who are golfers flying under the radar for one of the coveted spots?
Should Bradley pick himself?
Mark Schlabach: I think Bradley is ultimately going to pick himself because he’s one of the 12 best American golfers right now.
The aforementioned six golfers qualified for the team on points, and I think Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay are probably locks to make the team. JT has played better than the other two this season, and Morikawa’s game has been a bit of a mess. Cantlay hasn’t been consistent, either, but there’s no denying his success in the Ryder Cup.
That leaves potentially three open spots, and I think it would be difficult to find three golfers who are more deserving than Bradley right now. He should have been on the team that was smoked by the Europeans at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club outside Rome in 2023. He’s ultra competitive, played Bethpage Black frequently during his college career at St. John’s, and New York fans are going to root for a guy from the Northeast, even if he’s a diehard Boston sports fan.
Bradley’s results haven’t been great since he won the Travelers Championship, a signature event, but he played better with a tie for 17th at the BMW Championship and qualified for the Tour Championship.
Paolo Uggetti: In some ways, Keegan and the U.S. Team overlords have found themselves in somewhat of a worst-case scenario of their own doing. During any other Ryder Cup year Keegan (currently 10th in the standings) would be an intriguing decision for the captain. Even before seeing what he does at the Tour Championship, you can make a case he should be in and you can also make a case that a few other players should be picked ahead of him.
The problem, of course, is that it’s Keegan making that very decision. And after going back on what he said at the beginning of the process (that he wouldn’t make the team unless he qualified for it) following his win at the Travelers, all signs point to him picking himself. He even has had players who may make the team like Patrick Cantlay, and players who likely won’t like Rickie Fowler, make the argument for him.
It’s all building up to a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. As Rory McIlroy pointed out, being a playing captain is an extremely difficult (perhaps impossible) task, and if Keegan does pick himself, it is going to not just add a double heaping of pressure to Keegan’s plate but also make that the top storyline and talking point heading into and likely out of the event.
If I were rooting for the U.S. Team, I probably wouldn’t want Keegan to pick himself, but it seems that most fans want exactly that outcome. Either way, I’ll bring the popcorn.
Do you agree with Rory that you can’t be a playing captain?
Schlabach: Last week, Rory revealed that he turned down an opportunity to be the European team’s playing captain at the next Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in Ireland in 2027. McIlroy said he didn’t even weigh the opportunity because he didn’t think it could be done.
There’s no question a Ryder Cup captain shoulders myriad responsibilities when it comes to team meetings, media obligations, opening ceremonies, etc. But I think you could also argue that once Bradley chooses his team, the most difficult part of his job is over. He spent the past two years evaluating golfers, poring over statistics and analytics, and building team camaraderie. Team schedules and dinner plans would already be set.
McIlroy said having a playing captain would inhibit a team’s ability to roll out its best lineup in each session. He argued that a playing captain couldn’t compete in both sessions in one day because he’d have to fulfill his duties as a leader.
If Bradley and his playing partner were to defeat a European pairing 4 & 3 in the Friday morning session, I don’t think there’s any question he would be back on the course in the afternoon. I think Bradley has more than enough confidence in vice captains Jim Furyk, Gary Woodland, Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker to run things.
Under-the-radar golfer to make the team?
Schlabach: Three former University of Georgia golfers — English and Henley on the U.S. side and Sepp Straka on the European — are going to be playing at Bethpage Black. I think you could argue that a fourth, Brian Harman, is deserving to be there as well.
The former Open Championship winner captured his fourth PGA Tour victory at the Valero Texas Open in April and tied for 10th at The Open at Royal Portrush. He tied for third at the RBC Heritage and was solo eighth at the Travelers.
Harman is 12th in points heading into this week’s Tour Championship and probably needs another strong finish to be seriously considered. He was a stellar match-play competitor as a junior and went 2-2 in his Ryder Cup debut at Marco Simone.
Sam Burns seemed to be on the outside looking in at No. 16 in points, but he tied for fourth at the BMW Championship to grab some momentum. Burns won the last edition of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in 2023 and leads the tour in strokes gained: putting (.921), which can’t be overlooked at the Ryder Cup.
Uggetti: On the U.S. side, I think the guy who has really made a strong case for being a pick who isn’t being discussed too much is Maverick McNealy.
Even though McNealy hasn’t won on Tour this year, he has been one of the more consistent players this season, tallying up 10 top-25 finishes, including seven top-10s and a runner up. McNealy is a top-25 player in the OWGR and a top-30 player per DataGolf. He is the 13th-best American right now in strokes gained and finished solo third at the BMW this week, which puts him at 11th in the Ryder Cup standings.
The Stanford grad is not a surefire pick by any means, but as he now heads to his first-ever appearance at the Tour Championship coming off one of his best performances of the season, he still has a shot to leave a strong impression with Keegan & Co.
What’s more important: recent form or Ryder Cup experience?
Uggetti: The answer is obviously both, but if each of those factors were on opposite sides of a see-saw, I think Ryder Cup experience would outweigh recent form if ever so slightly. Match play is now not a part of the PGA Tour and having to play that format with the energy of thousands of fans surrounding you, there’s something to be said for not being overwhelmed by the moment because you have already experienced it. It’s why players such as Cantlay and Morikawa are likely going to get the nod despite not playing their best golf as of late.
Who are your six picks for the U.S. team and why?
Schlabach: As I mentioned above, I think Thomas, Morikawa and Cantlay are nearly locks to make the team, leaving a handful of golfers competing for three spots. Going into East Lake, I’d say Cameron Young has the most momentum because of recent form, putting and course fit. He knocks it a mile off the tee and is a native of New York.
If Bradley doesn’t choose himself, I think it probably comes down to Ben Griffin, McNealy, Chris Gotterup, Burns and Harman for one or two spots. If I’m Bradley, I’m going with experience and choosing either Burns or Harman, depending on what happens this week at East Lake.
Uggetti: As of this moment, I think the six players I would pick — and to be clear, this isn’t who I think Keegan will pick — are Justin Thomas, Ben Griffin, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Cam Young and Chris Gotterup.
The first four are no-brainers, in my opinion, given a combination of past history at the event as well as recent form. Though Thomas, Morikawa and Cantlay have played well enough to make East Lake, they are benefitting from the former, while no one embodies the latter better than Griffin, who has been a force this season, winning twice (adding nine top-10s), and continuing to back up his play tournament after tournament.
The last two picks are the toughest and likely where there may be some drama. I don’t think Keegan can reasonably pick himself over Young, who has come on as of late and notched not only his first PGA Tour victory recently, but also leveled up his play and made the Tour Championship. Not to mention how well his game could fit Bethpage.
Gotterup is a total wild card. He barely made the Tour Championship after a subpar week at the BMW and though he shined during the overseas swing, there may not be enough tape, if you will, to go off of. Conversely, that is also why he may be the right kind of pick.
The American team’s chances will not come down to how good Gotterup is or isn’t at Bethpage, but much like Bob MacIntyre did for the Euros in Rome, he could add exactly the kind of bonus energy the team may need from its 12th member. The opposing argument would say that Bradley would add that and more if he were the 12th man, but picking Gotterup also accomplishes something else: It lets Bradley be the captain.
