Koepka favoured to make US Ryder Cup team

NEW YORK – Brooks Koepka has fallen out of an automatic spot for the United States’ Ryder Cup team, but the five-time Major champion remains a favourite to be included on captain Zach Johnson’s outfit that will take on Europe in Rome in September.

Koepka finished second at the US Masters and

won the PGA Championship

to vault into contention for one of the six automatic spots on the US squad.

However, he slid to seventh when Max Homa and Xander Schauffele passed him after the BMW Championship on Sunday.

The 33-year-old will now need a captain’s pick from Johnson, who has been non-committal on his stance regarding LIV Golf players.

The six automatic spots have been secured by Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Homa and Schauffele.

Koepka occupies the top non-automatic spot, followed by Jordan Spieth, Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa in the top 10.

Young has been installed as a 1/10 favourite by a bookmaker to be one of Johnson’s six picks, followed by Morikawa and Rickie Fowler at 1/8 and Koepka at 1/5.

It sets the stage for a very dramatic build-up to the announcement by Johnson of his selections on Tuesday following this week’s Tour Championship, the finale of the FedExCup play-off featuring the top-30 players.

Spieth, who nearly blew his spot in the Tour Championship with a pair of closing bogeys en route to a joint-34th place finish on Sunday, is widely expected to make the Ryder Cup team.

That would leave just five spots among a very large group of prospective picks.

Young is a rising star, but has not played in a Ryder Cup, has yet to win on the PGA Tour and failed to qualify for the Tour Championship, in which Morikawa and Fowler, both Ryder Cup veterans, will be competing this week.

Also in contention are Keegan Bradley, who won the Travelers Championship in June and is 11th in the US standings; and Sam Burns, a five-time PGA Tour winner who is 12th.

The most interesting dilemma for Johnson outside of Koepka may be Lucas Glover. The 43-year-old has never played in the Ryder Cup and is 16th in the US standings, but he did win the Wyndham Championship to make the play-offs and then backed it up with

a victory at the FedEx St Jude Championship.

Glover is currently being offered at 7/2 by the book along with Tony Finau, another previous Ryder Cup player who will be in East Lake this week. However, Finau has not been in strong form this summer, with a T7 at the 3M Open his only top-20 finish in his past 10 starts.

With such a deep pool of contenders, Koepka’s chances of making a fourth Ryder Cup team will likely come down to Johnson’s stance on LIV Golf players.

He has previously said they are “technically” eligible, but it

would also be “irresponsible” of him to comment

on whether LIV players will be considered because he does not regularly see them compete.

Koepka’s only qualifying points were earned at the four Majors.

He rose to No. 2 in the US standings following his third PGA Championship triumph, but then tied for 17th at the US Open and 64th at the British Open.

During a practice round at Royal Liverpool in July, Koepka got to chat with Johnson about the Ryder Cup.

He said: “We got to talk about it a little bit, just what’s going on... how the team is shaping up. It’s kind of interesting.” REUTERS