Two rookies who stand out are Russell Knox, a two-time PGA Tour victor this season who is No. 20 in the world, making him the sixth-highest ranked European; and Thomas Pieters, the Belgian loaded with power who won in Denmark on Sunday.
Advertisement
Patrick Reed’s win at The Barclays clinches his second straight spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Fowler still hasn’t won in four tries as a 54-hole leader on the PGA Tour and at least figured to have one of the eight automatic spots on the Ryder Cup team locked up.
“Everyone’s been talking about the Ryder Cup, been talking about, ‘Oh, you’re in the eighth spot and you’re on the bubble, ‘ and all that”, Reed said after finishing at 9-under 275 for a one-shot victory.
“I just got to take care of business tomorrow”, said Fowler.
The way Fowler finished only leads to two weeks of uncertainty.
Aussie Adam Scott posted a 65 that was the low score of the tournament and is two shots back in solo third at Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.
“The short game has been there for me”, Fowler said. I was trying to win the whole thing. Fowler needed to finish third to move past Zach Johnson into the eighth spot in the USA standings, and he was two shots clear of O’Hair and Grillo. His late meltdown sent him to a 74, a tie for seventh and kept him off the Ryder Cup team.
Reed took the outright lead when Fowler bogeyed the 11th.
Sean O’Hair (66) and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (69) finished one shot behind in a tie for second place.
“Russell Knox…faces extremely stiff competition from Thomas Pieters in the battle for a Ryder Cup wild card after the young Belgian produced a brilliant finish to win the final event in Europe’s year-long qualifying campaign for next month’s match at Hazeltine”, Martin Dempster of the Scotsman writes. He missed another fairway and took bogey.
Love said Fowler was “trending up” with how he played at The Barclays and tournaments coming up.
“I told my caddie once I holed that putt I knew it was going to be a big day for me”, O’Hair said.
“You can’t play out of the rough here and I felt like I was playing out of the rough all day”.
“A guy like Spieth is going to be a mainstay on the USA team for a number of years”, said Mickelson, who finished at 3-under for the day and the tournament. Love will make three captain’s picks after the BMW Championship on September 12 and the final one on September 25 after the Tour Championship.
Captain Davis Love III has four wildcard picks for the team.
Fowler has a one-stroke lead over his compatriot after Saturday’s third round in the first of four events making up the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff series.
Jason Day has lost the top spot on the FedEx Cup rankings but is still favourite with most to become the first Australian to win the lucrative $10 million bonus pool.
The 20-year-old Thai player made a 12-birdie putt on the final hole for a 6-under 66 and a four-stroke victory. Tag Ridings finished 3 under for the tournament and won $2,121.
Reed played an up-and-down front nine with three birdies and three bogeys.
“Its been … frustrating, because I can easily just pinpoint through nearly every event a three-hole or a nine-hole or a couple shots here or there that cost me, instead of finishing 10th or seventh or fifth into a W”.
Advertisement
Even more aggravating to Reed was that it was his own fault.
