After the PGA Tour closed the books of a historic season on and off the course Sunday, another daytime drama will unfold in the next 24 hours: Who will make the U.S. Ryder Cup team?
Or, more to the point, will the PGA of America, which oversees the Ryder Cup, bypass reigning PGA champion Brooks Koepka because of his status as a LIV Golf member?
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson will complete his team with six at-large selections Tuesday. The ceremony will be televised at 10 a.m. EDT on Golf Channel. The captain’s picks will join Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele, who ranked 1-6, respectively, in the Ryder Cup standings, for the 44th biennial match September 29-October 1 at Marco Simone in Rome, Italy.
Koepka, who won this year’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill for his fifth major title, slipped to seventh in the Ryder Cup standings after his LIV Golf status barred him from PGA Tour-run events and limited his chances for Official World Golf Ranking points. He has compiled a 6-5-1 record in three Ryder Cups, including the Americans’ victorious 2016 and 2021 editions.
If he is not picked, Koepka would be the second consecutive reigning PGA champion not to play on that year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team, after Phil Mickelson, who served as an assistant captain in 2021.
Scheffler said Koepka deserves a spot.
“If he played one tournament on tour, I think he probably would have been on the team,” Scheffler said.
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee contends that Koepka would be “bad for the team,” adding: “In making this team more cohesive, being on point, and pointing in the right direction, Brooks Koepka missing this team would be good for this team.”
Brian Harman, who locked up his team debut with a victory in the recent Open Championship, wants only for the U.S. to end its 30-year losing streak overseas in the biennial match.
“The goal of the Ryder Cup is to win,” Harman said, “so whoever Zach thinks that can help us win the Ryder Cup I think needs to be on the team.”
If Koepka were to get the nod, he could bump Justin Thomas, who has struggled this season and failed to make the FedEx Cup playoffs, or perhaps Lucas Glover, Keegan Bradley or Tony Finau, all two-time winners in the 2022-23 season.
We’ll know early Tuesday.
Commissioner Jay Monahan expressed confidence that the proposed business deal with the Saudis and their Public Investment Fund will be done by the end of the year. “I see it and I’m certain of it,” he told a media gathering that included GGP’s Ron Green Jr. before last week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia. Monahan also expects the tour to open 2023 at Kapalua Resort in Maui, despite the recent deadly wildfires on the Hawaiian island, and help with the recovery efforts. READ MORE
There has been no upswing in betting-related distractions at PGA Tour events, but security officials will react promptly to deal with miscreants, a tour executive told ESPN’s David Purdum. A fan was ejected from the recent BMW Championship after loudly imploring Max Homa to miss a short birdie putt, which he holed. Rory McIlroy, who sits on the tour’s Policy Board, said the tour’s embrace of gambling ventures is “a bit of a slippery slope” because of how spectators could influence play. READ MORE
TAP-INS
The number of rounds played in the U.S., which has been trending upward since the coronavirus pandemic prompted Americans to search for safe outdoor activities, continued to climb, according to the latest research by Golf Datatech. Rounds played in July rose 3.2 percent compared with the same month in 2022, with the year-to-date increase nationwide at 5.0 percent, the National Rounds Played Report for July found. READ MORE
Gordon Sargent won the McCormack medal as the leading male in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Sargent, 20, a Vanderbilt University junior from Birmingham, Alabama, will receive 2024 exemptions into the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 and the Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland, provided that he remains an amateur. Sargent will compete this week for the U.S. team in the 49th Walker Cup at St. Andrews’ Old Course in Scotland. READ MORE
Former PGA Tour player Erik Compton was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence involving his wife at their home in Miami, according to news reports. Compton, 43, bonded out of a local jail after being charged with strong-armed robbery, a second-degree felony, and misdemeanor battery. Compton, a two-time heart-transplant recipient, lost his PGA Tour card in 2016 after five exempt seasons. He made two cuts in as many starts this season. READ MORE
Arthur Blank, the Atlanta billionaire who co-founded home-improvement retailer Home Depot and owns the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and the PGA Tour Superstore chain of golf retailers, has expanded his golf holdings. Blank bought the Atlanta franchise in the TGL high-tech golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and set to launch in January. READ MORE
The LPGA entered an agreement with Fenway Sports Management, whose properties include baseball’s Boston Red Sox and soccer’s Liverpool FC, to expand the women’s tour’s business relationships. READ MORE
The USGA awarded five of its national championships in the next 15 years to two Northeast sites designed by the renowned Donald Ross. Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey, will host the 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, 2031 U.S. Senior Women’s Open and 2038 U.S. Senior Open. The Country Club of Buffalo in Williamsville, New York, will host the 2027 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and the 2032 U.S. Senior Amateur. READ MORE and MORE
Europe finalized its 12-member teams for two international match-play events next month against top American juniors: the Ping Junior Solheim Cup and the Junior Ryder Cup. READ MORE and MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon