United States Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III has named Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar and JB Holmes as three of his four wildcard picks following the completion of the BMW Championship.
Fowler has competed in two Ryder Cups before but the 27 year old has failed to win any of his eight matches, with five draws to his name. He also finished out of the top 30 at the BMW and will now have no competitive golf before the Ryder Cup, which begins on September 30.
Kuchar, who won bronze in the Rio Olympics and finished fourth in the BMW, will be competing in his fourth Ryder Cup, while Holmes has only played in one Ryder Cup previously, helping the US to victory in 2008.
“We didn’t really look at rookies versus experience,” Love stated. “We looked at adding to our team to build the best, now 11, that we could. Experience is good. We know what to expect. We know how to handle it, how to deal with it. We’re going to learn from our mistakes in the past and build on it.”
Love, who also captained the US when they lost in 2012, will name the final member of his 12-man team on September 25 after the Tour Championship finishes.
Bubba Watson, currently ranked 7th in the world, was a surprise absentee from the wildcard selections, and following a run of poor form has seemingly still prove to the captain that he will be an asset to the team. Other players under consideration include Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger and Kevin Kisner, all of whom would be Ryder Cup rookies, while one of Love’s vice-captains, Jim Furyk, could yet be called on to play.
Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Jimmy Walker, Brooks Koepka, Brandt Snedeker and Zach Johnson all qualified automatically.