In just a month’s time we will know the make-up of the 2023 European Ryder Cup team, but there is nothing to say we can’t have fun with a bit of speculation in the meantime. The furore surrounding LIV Golf has been brought into this conversation a few times but the truth is that it’s probably irrelevant. The marquee-name former Ryder Cuppers who have taken the Saudi shilling (I do realise that ‘shilling’ is something of an understatement of the money involved) – Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood – would have been unlikely to make the trip to Rome in any case, so it will fall to a mix of old names and new to attempt to deny the United States its first win on European soil since 1993.
There are at present four European golfers in the world’s top-10: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick. They will all be at Marco Simone, even though it is likely Fitzpatrick will require a wild card. Given the current European points standing and their respective pedigrees, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood are certainties, too. Robert MacIntyre is pretty much one as well. So who fills the other five places courtesy of wild-card invitations from the captain, Luke Donald?
I would be surprised if he overlooked either of Justin Rose and Shane Lowry. They would take the number of major champions in his team to five, which might end up being the same as for the Americans or one or two fewer. Sepp Straka is now a very strong candidate, having been joint runner-up in the Open and also a winner on the PGA Tour last month. Adrian Meronk won the Italian Open over the Ryder Cup venue in May. And having just suggested an Austrian and a Pole, how about a Dane – one of Rasmus or Nicolai Højgaard? Either of those would be a pretty wild wild card but might very well justify inclusion.
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They are both hovering close to the 100 mark on the world rankings whereas there are 13 Americans in the top-20, and that number doesn’t include Collin Morikawa, the newly resurgent Rickie Fowler, or Justin Thomas. From the top, the US team will include Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and the LIV-based USPGA champion, Brooks Koepka. Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay can be wholly confident of being on the team as well. So can Max Homa, Cameron Young and Jordan Spieth, especially given that one of Zach Johnson’s vice-captains, Fred Couples, has said those three would be making it. It’s hard to see Morikawa being omitted, which would probably leave the remaining two spots to be filled by Keegan Bradley, Tony Finau, Fowler or Thomas. If I was betting, which I won’t be, my money would be on Fowler and Thomas, even if right now the latter can hardly hit his cap.
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