Skipper Davis Love III added Rickie Fowler, JB Holmes and Matt Kuchar to the eight Americans automatically qualified for the Ryder Cup duel against Europe at Hazeltine in a fortnight. He is 0-3-5 in his two previous Ryder Cup appearances, and his PGA Tour season ended abruptly Sunday when he narrowly missed out on the 30th and final spot in the FedEx Cup standings and a spot in the Tour Championship. Once the eight automatic qualifiers were determined, he selected Ricky Fowler, Matt Kuchar, and former Kentucky Wildcat J.B. Holmes as captain’s picks.
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But U.S. captain Davis Love III is banking on Fowler returning to form for at least three days – September 30-Oct.
The Americans have branded the motto “12 Strong” – an emphasis on team – on apparel and equipment they’ve ordered for next month’s Ryder Cup.
Oddly enough, Fowler has yet to play at Ryder Cup in the USA, and believes he will feed off the galleries at Hazeltine. “He’s been very thoughtful the way he’s handled the “Tiger Woods factor” of being an influence but also a distraction”, said Love. He played at Valhalla in 2008, when he went 2-0-1.
“These three guys are who we really all wanted”, Love said, referring to his four assistant captains, during a news conference at this year’s Ryder Cup venue, Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minnesota.
“This was a tough decision and we have another tough decision coming up in two weeks”. “That would be legend-ary”, Kuchar said.
Watson isn’t the only player who may well warrant a pick.
Love, the US captain, has one more pick after the Tour Championship in two weeks.
Despite that, Love said Fowler brings more to the table than won-loss records.
Johnson won by three shots from England’s US-based Paul Casey, who was not eligible for Europe’s Ryder Cup team as he is not a member of his home tour. Imagine Tiger Woods being a playing captain, absolutely incredible.
Three picks have zero combined wins over the course of the 2016-17 season, pushing many in the golf world to question the picking of household names, rather than going for the rookie selections that could provide a future hope as is well-documented by stats. The point of the task force, Love has argued, is to build a winning legacy, not a big enough lead heading into Sunday’s single matches to avoid another meltdown like the one that cost the US team at Medinah four years ago.
Kuchar is 4-5-2 in three Ryder Cups.
“We were waiting to talk to our team about where we were”.
And as they finished their rounds at Sunday’s BMW Championship, Zach Johnson and Jimmy Walker were phoned and asked for their opinions on the picks.
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“We’re a sports team and we have to draft the right player for the right position”, Love said.
