Two weeks from Friday, the first tee balls will be struck in the 43rd Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. Steve Stricker is already there.
The U.S. captain was on site at this year’s host venue on Wednesday as he rounded out his 12-man roster with six captain’s picks: Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Harris English, Daniel Berger and Scottie Scheffler.
They join automatic qualifiers Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and recent FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay.
Finau, Schauffele and Spieth had been considered locks to receive picks since missing out on qualifying following the BMW Championship two weeks ago. Finau, who went 2-1 in his Ryder Cup debut in 2018, won The Northern Trust last month before being bumped out of the sixth and final automatic spot by Cantlay, who won each of the last two playoff events. Schauffele will be a rookie, though his Olympic gold medal victory shows he’s in form. Spieth, a three-time Ryder Cupper with a 7-2-2 record not including his 0-3 singles mark, experienced a resurgence this year, winning the Valero Texas Open, finishing runner-up at The Open and climbing back to No. 14 in the world.
English, twice a winner this year, makes his first cup team as a pro, as does Scheffler, the reigning Rookie of the Year, while Berger will also be a Ryder Cup rookie, though he represented the U.S. at the 2017 Presidents Cup, where he went 2-1 but also sat two sessions.
“Rookies fare very well in this type of format, and we’re excited to have these rookies,” said Stricker, noting that U.S. rookies are 40-29-17 in Ryder Cups since 2008.
Reed was the biggest question mark after missing the first two playoff events while battling double pneumonia, which caused him to be hospitalized. Reed tied for 17th in his return at East Lake, but he apparently didn’t show Stricker enough to be selected. Reed is 7-3-2, and a perfect 3-0 in singles, in three Ryder Cup appearances.
However, Reed is a combined 2-5 in his last two team appearances, at the 2019 Presidents Cup and 2018 Ryder Cup, and was also embroiled in controversy at both events. After the Americans’ loss in Paris, Reed called out captain Jim Furyk, as well as teammates Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, in a New York Times interview. A year later in Australia, his rules violation at the Hero World Challenge the week prior followed him to Royal Melbourne, where his caddie, Kessler Karain, was suspended from the singles session after an altercation with a fan the previous day.
Aside from Reed’s exclusion, Sam Burns, Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak and Billy Horschel will all have to wait to make their Ryder Cup debuts. Veterans Webb Simpson, Kevin Kisner and Phil Mickelson were also not picked. Mickelson had been a part of every Ryder Cup since his debut in 1995.
But could there be a seventh pick? Could Reed, or someone else, still have a chance to make the team? With Koepka’s recent right wrist injury, which forced him to withdraw during Saturday’s third round of the Tour Championship, it’s possible one of the players who was passed over Wednesday could, in fact, get the call.
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