Ciao, Brian Harman.
With his virtuoso performance in the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, Harman did more than deliver the redefining moment of what had been a solid but not quite spectacular career.
That changed Sunday when Harman’s name was etched into the Claret Jug.
Harman also wrote his name in captain Zach Johnson’s United States Ryder Cup team lineup, providing his captain and his teammates with his personal brand of grit that can be invaluable when the nerves start tingling in Rome in late September.
It’s not technically official yet – the six automatic qualifiers based on points won’t be finalized until after the BMW Championship next month – but it doesn’t take a math major, just someone with an eye for golf and doggedness, to know that Harman belongs on the team.
Like Wyndham Clark did with his U.S. Open victory last month, Harman has earned a spot on the American team at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club that will have a different makeup than seemed probable just a few weeks ago.
That’s a good thing for Johnson, who already was operating from a position of strength as the Americans try to win the Ryder Cup on foreign soil for the first time in 30 years.
Harman and Clark may be Ryder Cup rookies, but winning the Open Championship and the U.S. Open, respectively, should offset questions about their relative inexperience in team play. For Harman, the disappointment of not being selected to the U.S. Presidents Cup team last year lingered but has now been replaced by what should be a rare joy.
While almost certainly filling two of the six automatic qualifying spots – Scottie Scheffler has locked up his spot – Harman and Clark also have thrown more questions into the equation facing Johnson. It’s not just who will be on the U.S. team but who may be left off.
“I want all these guys to make my job difficult,” Johnson said last week at the Open Championship. “That's what I signed up for.”
With the year’s final major championship complete – Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Clark and Harman form this year’s fabulous foursome – the Ryder Cup looms in the distance. The FedEx Cup playoffs are still ahead – would it surprise anyone to see Rory McIlroy win a fourth FedEx Cup? – but the anticipation of who will be in Rome and what might happen continues to build.
Who is likely to be on the American team?
Scheffler, Clark, Koepka and Harman seem set to be four of the six automatic qualifiers, and Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Jordan Spieth can be fitted for their team clothing.
“I want all these guys to make my job difficult. That's what I signed up for.”
Zach Johnson, U.S. captain
That leaves four spots and plenty of questions.
Let’s consider the options:
Keegan Bradley: In the midst of what feels like a career renaissance with two wins this season, he is full of passion and has played two previous Ryder Cups. Count him in.
Collin Morikawa: Until a playoff loss at the Rocket Mortgage Classic to Rickie Fowler, he hadn’t shown much form, but it’s hard to imagine a team being better without Morikawa than with him.
Cameron Young: He helped his cause at the Open Championship, and his game is trending in the right way after seven straight events outside the top 30. He’s 175th in strokes gained putting, which is a red flag.
Sam Burns: He’s a solid player who can help his case with a good playoff run.
Rickie Fowler: Given where he’s been and what he’s been through, Fowler deserves a spot on the team for how he’s worked his way back. He enhances the team chemistry quotient, and it will be an upset if Johnson doesn’t take him to Rome.
Tony Finau: If it were purely a popularity contest, Finau would be a lock, but his form has gone flat since his victory in Mexico in April. It feels as if he’s on the outside looking in at the moment.
That leads to the biggest question mark: What about Justin Thomas?
If Johnson is basing his picks on form, Thomas is on the outside looking in, something he fully understands. It’s been almost unsettling to watch him struggle, given his talent and what he already has accomplished in the game, but it happens, as he has seen from his buddies Fowler and Spieth.
Asked specifically last week about Thomas, who missed the Open Championship cut after shooting 82 on Thursday, Johnson sounded like a captain looking for a reason to believe in Thomas.
“Guys with talent like that – that work and aren't afraid to put their work in the dirt, if you will, not to be cliché – typically find it. It's just a matter of when, not if. He's too darned good,” Johnson said.
“Bottom line is, this game is really hard. There's going to be peaks. There’s going to be some valleys. Let’s hope whatever sort of non-peak he’s in, it’s short.”
There are others – Denny McCarthy, Harris English, Kurt Kitayama, Chris Kirk and Sahith Theegala – who can make Johnson’s task more difficult, but they need to make it happen now.
“My hope is that JT and all those guys – you go down the list – I want all those guys in good form,” Johnson said.
“I want them to make my decision really difficult.”
They are doing a good job of that.
E-MAIL RON
Top: Brian Harman wins both a Claret Jug and a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Oisin Keniry, R&A via Getty Images