This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
Dustin Johnson is playing great golf, virtually locking up the PGA Tour's Player of the Year with his big win at the BMW Championship on Sunday. And that's a good thing, since the U.S. Ryder Cup team is looking kind of shaky, just two weeks before the biennial competition begins.
Johnson and the seven other automatic U.S. selections were joined on Monday morning by three captain's picks, Rickie Fowler, J.B. Holmes and Matt Kuchar. With Fowler's selection, that means that three of the 11 members of Davis Love III's team fell short of qualifying for the Tour Championship (a 12th and final golfer will be chosen after East Lake). So much for playing well leading up to the competition against Europe that the United States has won only once since 1999.
Fowler was on full display on Sunday, limping through another tournament to finally, and agonizingly, fall out of the top-30 in the FedEx Cup point standings, the cutoff for East Lake. South African Charl Schwartzel closed with a 64 at Crooked Stick to edge Fowler by less than a point. Not even a point – less than a point.
But apparently playing well was not a consideration for Love, at least where Fowler was concerned. He was 59th at the BMW and T46 at the Deutsche Bank the week before. Yes, Fowler was T7 at the Barclays, but that was after he collapsed with a Sunday 74 to lose the tournament. And he has never won a Ryder Cup
Dustin Johnson is playing great golf, virtually locking up the PGA Tour's Player of the Year with his big win at the BMW Championship on Sunday. And that's a good thing, since the U.S. Ryder Cup team is looking kind of shaky, just two weeks before the biennial competition begins.
Johnson and the seven other automatic U.S. selections were joined on Monday morning by three captain's picks, Rickie Fowler, J.B. Holmes and Matt Kuchar. With Fowler's selection, that means that three of the 11 members of Davis Love III's team fell short of qualifying for the Tour Championship (a 12th and final golfer will be chosen after East Lake). So much for playing well leading up to the competition against Europe that the United States has won only once since 1999.
Fowler was on full display on Sunday, limping through another tournament to finally, and agonizingly, fall out of the top-30 in the FedEx Cup point standings, the cutoff for East Lake. South African Charl Schwartzel closed with a 64 at Crooked Stick to edge Fowler by less than a point. Not even a point – less than a point.
But apparently playing well was not a consideration for Love, at least where Fowler was concerned. He was 59th at the BMW and T46 at the Deutsche Bank the week before. Yes, Fowler was T7 at the Barclays, but that was after he collapsed with a Sunday 74 to lose the tournament. And he has never won a Ryder Cup match, going 0-3-5.
Zach Johnson finished a shocking 57th in the point standings, with no top-25s in three months. Koepka was slowed by an injury, but still. He withdrew from the WGC-Bridgestone in July with torn right ankle ligaments. That was late enough in the season that a golfer of his stature could've/should've already secured a top-30 spot. And how is the ankle now? Koepka's best finish in the three playoff events was Sunday's T32.
Of course, someone who isn't playing well now could play well in two weeks at Hazeltine. And vice versa.
But that's not what the selection process is about, especially for a U.S. team that has invested more into winning this tournament that ever before.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
Dustin Johnson
Johnson rolled to his third win of the season on Sunday at Crooked Stick. He's still No. 2 in the world behind Jason Day, and by a decent margin, but he's probably No. 1 in the golf public's mind. And with Day's withdrawal from the BMW, Johnson will win the Vardon Trophy for the best scoring average on tour this season (unless, of course, Johnson withdraws from East Lake, which would also eliminate him from consideration). Unless Day wins the Tour Championship, and even if he does, it's likely that Johnson will win the players' vote as Player of the Year. Johnson has finished fifth in his past two starts at East Lake, missing the tournament in 2014 during his break from the tour.
Paul Casey
Casey's promising career took a detour a few years back, and he's still won only once in his PGA Tour career (2009, Houston). But the last two weeks, both runner-ups, may be the best stretch of golf for him ever, at least in the United States. Casey has reached the Tour Championship only twice, including last year, but finished top-5 both times. Doing it again would not only cap a remarkable end-of-season-run, but could possibly make him the FedEx champion. (A golfer in the top-5 in the points after the BMW can win the FedEx Cup with a win in the Tour Championship.)
Adam Scott
There's a reason Scott is third in the point standings and therefore controls his own destiny heading to East Lake: He's finished T4 in three straight playoff events. Back in winter – winter! – Scott won two straight events, but had been awfully quiet since then. That's another example of why it's so hard to predict golf tournaments. Scott won the Tour Championship way back in 2006, but hasn't really contended since then. You'll have to decide whether the week off before East Lake will cool off his hot play.
Charl Schwartzel
Schwartzel played only 18 events, so making the top-30, even by the slimmest of margins over Fowler, shows how good he is. Entering the playoffs, the South African had a win and 10 – 10! – top-25s in just 15 starts. Schwartzel did little in the first two playoff events so he needed a big showing at the BMW. He got it, with a closing 64 to tie for fourth. He was among four golfers to crack the top-30 on Sunday, joining Holmes, Roberto Castro and Daniel Berger. Besides Fowler, Koepka, Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson fell out.
Ryan Palmer
Sunday seemed to encapsulate Palmer on the PGA Tour: Close but not good enough, one step forward before one step back. He birdied 12, 13 and 15 to climb inside the top-30 in points, then promptly bogeyed 16. He parred out to tie for fourth at the BMW, but that dropped shot left him 34th in the standings. And excruciating near-miss. Palmer is not in the top-30, and he's not in the top-50 in the world at No. 61. Again, close. He turns 40 next week. FedEx top-30 and OWGR top-50 are probably not in his future. But if you consider him for your team, you know he'll usually be … close.
Justin Rose
If you're an Olympic gold medal winner, well, that's pretty darn good and your season, if not your career, is a success. But 2015-16 was not up to Rose's high standards. He had only one top-10 on tour after the Masters and thus had his worst season since 2009. He was T24 at Crooked Stick, not nearly good enough to vault him to East Lake, and left him at 51st in the point standings. Rose had some back issues during the season and next year he'll embark on his age-37 season. Still, he should have some good years ahead of him.
Emiliano Grillo
Grillo tied for 32nd at the BMW, and is one of two rookies to finish in the top-30, competing with Si Woo Kim for Rookie of the Year. Grillo likely will be a hot option next season, beginning with the season-opening Safeway Open (nee Frys), where he is the defending champion. One cautionary note: It's not uncommon to see young golfers take a step back following their breakthrough season.
Jason Dufner
Has anyone in the top-30 performed more quietly than Dufner, who is 19th? He won at La Quinta in January and had only two top-10s the rest of the way (one in the U.S. Open), but played steady enough to easily make it to East Lake. He's finished top-20 in each of his four starts there and is coming off a T60 at the BMW.
Jason Day
Day withdrew during the final round of the BMW with a back injury, He's still in the top 5 in the point standings and he'll likely give it a go in the Tour Championship. We've seen Day overcome injury and illness to not only thrive, but win. There will be only 30 golfers at East Lake, so Day will have representative DraftKings ownership. The question is, will he be in your lineup?
Bryson DeChambeau
This season's Next Big Thing made a mini-splash at the Masters before turning pro, then found out that the PGA Tour is hard, even for college all-Americans. DeChambeau couldn't secure his card and humbly went to the Web.com Tour Finals. He won the first playoff event, the DAP Championship, in a playoff on Sunday to ensure he will have his PGA Tour card next season. Look for DeChambeau to make a good number of starts early in the 2016-17 season.
