“I can’t say it enough”, Love said at an August 29 Manhattan news conference in which he discussed the eight players who qualified automatically from a two-year points system that ended with the final round of The Barclays.
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Bubba Watson has appeared in the previous three Ryder Cups, but missed out on an initial pick, with Justin Thomas and vice-captain Jim Furyk among those to also not be selected.
Kuchar, 38, was an Olympic bronze medalist at the Rio Games.
“We found no weaknesses in his game”, Love said of Fowler. He has been part of winning USA teams in the Walker, Ryder and Presidents cups.
Davis Love III:: Who will get final pick?
“I thought his picks were interesting”. 2 Ryder Cup along with Rickie Fowler and J.B.
Rich Beem was surprised to see JB Holmes picked ahead of Bubba Watson for the Ryder Cup, and feels the USA team would benefit from having an “injection of youth” at Hazeltine National. This is a tough decision; there were many great choices.
“He (Love) has got a great team around him and it’s going to be a lot of fun”. Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar had been talked about a lot, but the selection of JB Holmes was a surprise, even though he was really close to qualifying automatically.
Of course, all of this could change drastically at next week’s Tour Championship, where those in the field at East Lake will have one last audition for captain Love.
With Woods having been sidelined for much of the past year while recovering from multiple back operations, Love has relied heavily on tactical input from the 14-times major champion.
World number nine Fowler had been considered a virtual certainty to make Love’s team, despite missing out on a place in the Tour Championship on Sunday as he slipped to 31st in the FedEx Cup standings.
“We’ve got a strategy and we are going to work on that in the next two weeks and announce what best fits our team, not who shoots the best score in that tournament”. “Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery”.
The three picks came as a little shock to most in the golfing world.
All three have Ryder Cup experience and will join a veteran team of automatic qualifiers that has just one rookie, Brooks Koepka. “After Switzerland I just feel I’m playing well enough to win golf tournaments again – and winning would be ideal prep anyway”.
Captains can certainly get in the way of winning – as Corey Pavin did by letting his wife take over the captaincy in 2010 and as the socially inept Nick Faldo did in alienating his team in 2008 – but the truth in the Ryder Cup’s the same as it ever was.
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The team will boast unquestionably the most in-form player of the moment in Dustin Johnson, who won the BMW Championship on Sunday – his third title in his last eight events.
