When and where is this year’s Ryder Cup?
We’re nearly there – only six weeks to go for the match at Bethpage Black in New York (Long Island, to be precise) on September 26th-28th. Europe will seek to defend the trophy and win away on US soil for the first time since 2012, the Miracle at Medinah.
How are the teams shaping up?
Well, we know one half of the USA team. The United States’ automatic qualifying process concluded with the BMW Championship after which six players – Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau – earned their places.
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As for Europe, the qualifying for Luke Donald’s team finishes with this week’s British Masters at the Belfry in England. However, five of the six spots – Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton – are mathematically guaranteed, with just one more, currently held by Shane Lowry, to be determined at the DP World Tour tournament.
Is Lowry guaranteed to get that sixth automatic spot?
No. Europe’s qualifying, a year-long cycle which began at last year’s British Masters and finishes at the same tournament this week, still has some jeopardy. Lowry is not playing at the Belfry as he has qualified for the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour, which means Rasmus Hojgaard – currently eighth in the automatic standings – has the chance to leapfrog him. Sepp Straka, who is seventh, is, like Lowry, also playing in Atlanta.
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What does Hojgaard need to do to pass out Lowry?
Well, nothing spectacular if we’re entirely honest. Rasmus currently trails Lowry by 13.6 points. If the Dane were to finish in a tie for 29th (with one other player only) or better, then he would secure the minimum 13.7 points needed to move above Lowry.
Doesn’t the Tour Championship count for European qualifying?
No. The process finishes with the DP World Tour’s own stop, the British Masters.
Why doesn’t Lowry play the British Masters rather than the Tour Championship to keep matters in his own hands?
He could have done but it doesn’t make sense from a professional standpoint. The Tour Championship is confined to just the leading 30 players on the FedEx Cup standings and to make it to the final event of the PGA Tour’s season at East Lake is a big deal, aside from the $10 million pay-day to the winner. Lowry’s strong form this season – including two runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour, in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Truist Championship – would suggest he has a strong safety net in earning a captain’s pick from Luke Donald.
So, when do the captains make their wild card picks known?
USA captain Keegan Bradley is due to name his six players next week, on August 27th, with his task complicated – ironically – by his own form. Bradley finished in 10th when the USA qualifying process concluded on Sunday and, by that barometer, is clearly entitled to play.
For his part, Luke Donald will announce his six wild cards on September 1st, the Monday before the Amgen Irish Open at the K Club.
Will Bradley pick himself?
Only Bradley himself knows. Arnold Palmer – way back in 1963 – was the last playing captain of a team and, as the Ryder Cup has grown since then, so too have the demands of captaincy. It’s a huge call. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t, really.
Who are the likely picks, so?
From the European point of view, it seems pretty clear-cut, with Donald likely to go straight down the line beyond those automatic six, so it would be Rasmus Hojgaard or Lowry (depending on what happens at the Belfry), Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland all pretty much assured to fill out 10 places. Jon Rahm, who is playing on LIV, is guaranteed a pick. That’s 11. After that, the other spot is likely to be between Matt Wallace, Matt Fitzpatrick and Aaron Rai. Two in-form Englishmen, Marco Penge and Harry Hall, have come in under the radar but probably too late in the game to sway Donald’s thinking.
On the American side, Bradley’s own dilemma is deepened by those who didn’t make it. The likes of Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Maverick McNealy, Brian Harman, Andrew Novak, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark and Lucas Glover make it a case of more losing out than getting in.
Can you still get a ticket to the Ryder Cup?
Not a hope. More than 500,000 applications were received for the initial buy-in. The sold-out signs went up inside 48 hours of tickets going on sale, despite the daily general admission cost of $749 for the tournament days.
