Ryder Cup Team USA: Who should Zach Johnson select with captain’s picks
Captain Zach Johnson has roughly 10 days to decide which 12 Americans will represent Team USA at the Ryder Cup.
The clock is ticking on what 12 Americans will don the red, white, and blue at the 2023 Ryder Cup, which will take place at Marco Simone Golf Club outside of Rome, Italy.
Part of the puzzle will be finalized after this week’s BMW Championship, as the top six players in the American Ryder Cup standings will qualify.
Scottie Scheffler and Wyndham Clark rank first and second, respectively, and have already made the team. Patrick Cantlay and Brian Harman will soon follow.
Brooks Koepka and Max Homa, currently ranked fifth and sixth in the standings, are all but locks to make the team, as are Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth, who sit in seventh and eighth.
DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?! @JordanSpieth // @RyderCupUSA
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If Speith and Scheuffele play well at Olympia Fields this weekend, they could leapfrog Koepka and Homa, as these four players are bunched close together in the standings.
Some have suggested that Koepka should get bumped from the team due to his recent struggles in LIV Golf events. However, winning the PGA Championship and finishing second at Augusta National all but secured him a place on the American side.
Whatever happens over the next two weeks, these eight players are essentially locks to represent Team USA in Rome.
That leaves Captain Zach Johnson with four picks.
Here are the new U.S. Ryder Cup standings with two weeks to go. Top eight are locks, but who are your four after that? pic.twitter.com/F5ZnztDa6W
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) August 14, 2023
Who Should Zach Johnson select with Ryder Cup captain’s picks?
If I were Johnson, I would use two picks on Keegan Bradley and Collin Morikawa.
“I think about the Ryder Cup every second I’m awake, basically,” Bradley said ahead of the BMW Championship. “My biggest thing right now is trying not to think about it while I’m playing because it’s important to me.”
That is a guy you want on your team.
Bradley has the resume to back it up too.
He has won twice during the 2022-23 season, most recently at the Travelers Championship, where he won emphatically in front of his hometown New England crowd.
The former St. John’s star has also recorded five top-10s this season and is widely regarded as one of the better putters on tour.
Solid putting helps win in match play, ultimately leading to Ryder Cup victories.
As for Morikawa, he is one of the best ball-strikers on the planet.
Plus, he did not lose a single match at the 2021 Ryder Cup, going 3-0-1 and tying Viktor Hovland in the Sunday Singles to help Team USA win back the cup.
Morikawa will be on the team. If he is not, it would be an absolute shock.
So with Bradley and Morikawa on the team, Johnson has two picks remaining.
This is where things could get a little dicey.
Many pundits, fans, and even players have suggested that Justin Thomas should make the team.
Thomas, undoubtedly one of the most talented players on the planet, helped Team USA win the Ryder Cup in 2021 and bleeds red, white, and blue.
But other players deserve to represent the American side this time around. Thomas struggled all year. He did not record a win. He missed the cut at three of the four majors and did not qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
He had a poor season; unfortunately, it came during a Ryder Cup year.
So instead of looking toward Thomas, Johnson should look at another player who helped Team USA win in 2021: Tony Finau.
“The Ryder Cup’s always has been on my mind from the start of the year,” Finau said ahead of the 3M Open in late July. “It’s a goal of mine that hasn’t changed.”
Finau may have won only one match at the 2021 Ryder Cup, but it was a pretty important one.
He and Harris English took down Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in the Friday afternoon four ball matches, 4 & 3. Finau and English dominated the Irishmen, which helped give the U.S. a commanding 6-to-2 lead after day one. The Americans never looked back.
Team USA looks to make history at Ryder Cup
Now the Americans hope to win on European soil for the first time since 1993. That is a long time and likely will require a ton of skill and experience.
Finau has the Ryder Cup experience and the game to help get the job done.
Plus, he has had a strong season. He held off Jon Rahm and won the Mexico Open, has five top-10s and should qualify for the Tour Championship in Atlanta, barring a complete meltdown in Chicago.
As Rahm noted ahead of the BMW Championship, surviving the FedEx Cup Playoffs is no easy task. Only the “elite of the elite” make it this far, and Finau—not Thomas—did so this season.
The Utahan should represent the Americans in Rome in September.
That leaves us with one more pick.
And it really comes down to three options, in my opinion: Cameron Young, Lucas Glover, or Rickie Fowler.
Young has had a solid season but has not yet earned his first win on the PGA Tour. At just 26 years old, his best golf is still ahead of him.
Unless he wins in Chicago or wins the FedEx Cup, Young will have to wait to try and make his Ryder Cup debut in 2025, when Bethpage Black will host the bi-annual competition for the first time.
Considering he hails from Briarcliff Manor, New York, Young would surely love to qualify for that.
As for Glover, he might be the hottest golfer on the planet right now after winning back-to-back tournaments.
The only thing hotter than him is the pair of pants he wore Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which drew lots of laughs. His ‘swamp ass’ became an internet sensation.
But after his victory in Memphis, Glover was asked if he should be selected for the Ryder Cup team.
“Right now, yes,” Glover confidently said. “I am playing pretty good golf, and I think I’d be pretty good in the team room and be a good partner, so yeah, absolutely I would.”
The 43-year-old is one of the most beloved players on tour. He has a down-to-earth character, a southern charm about him, and a putter that has grown exponentially hot over the past month.
Glover is playing great golf and putting the ball beautifully, two attributes that help win Ryder Cups.
But unfortunately for Glover, Fowler has had a better season and should be Captain Johnson’s final Ryder Cup pick.
Fowler has had a career resurgence in 2023: he won the Rocket Mortgage Classic, recorded eight top-10s, and held a share of the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open.
Plus, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy has missed just one cut since the calendar flipped to 2023, and that was at Oak Hill Country Club for the PGA Championship.
Moreover, Fowler has Ryder Cup experience. Glover does not.
Fowler represented Team USA in 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018. He is close friends with Spieth, and those two could create a formidable duo in Rome this year.
Yet, this could all change within the next two weeks.
If Glover keeps the hot streak going and wins again, Johnson will have no choice but to select the Greensville, South Carolina native.
But who knows what will happen, which makes the FedEx Cup Playoffs much more enjoyable every other year. The playoffs help dictate who makes the Ryder Cup.
And the Ryder Cup is the best event in golf and might be in all of sports.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.