Ryder Cup 2023: Rickie Fowler enters the USA team after victory at Rocket Mortgage Classic

While the main reward for Win Rocket Mortgage Classic Sunday’s winning Rocket Mortgage Classic has a second focus for Rickie Fowler after a great run so far in 2023: Making his way into the 2023 US Ryder Cup team as the event unfolds. biennial takes place in Rome at the end of this September .

Fowler’s playstyle is certainly good enough to warrant consideration. He has played well in the majors, finishing in the top 10 in three of his last four events and rising to 35th in the Official (and – perhaps important) World Golf Rankings. more — 10th place in the Data Golf rankings). His golfing over the past three months is statistically better than every American except Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

However, Fowler remained on the sidelines looking at the US Ryder Cup standings. At 16th, he was back in the top 6 needed to qualify automatically and uncomfortably far behind the top 12, often pretty close to the final list of players selected when the team Captain Zach Johnson used his six captain options for Rome.

All of that changed with the victory at Detroit Golf Club. Fowler will continue to move up the OWGR and Data Golf rankings, breaking into the top 25 in the former and potentially breaking into the top eight in the latter. And with $1.6 million in earnings after the win, Fowler will almost certainly break into the top 12 on Monday’s Ryder Cup leaderboard (the Ryder Cup uses the winnings to rank).

Most importantly, he won a valid win with all numbers. And he did it in the best possible way by birding the last two holes he played, one to equalize and the other to seal his first win since February 2019.

I don’t make the rules and I don’t make the options, but now it would be really shocking if Fowler wasn’t on the Ryder Cup team in September. Now let’s take a look at the top 15 with estimated Ryder Cup scores based on Rocket Mortgage results:

“One of the ultimate goals is to be a part of the Ryder Cup team, and that’s still what we’re focused on right now,” Fowler said. “Have been part of a few and … those have been very special weeks, so that’s where I keep my eyes peeled. But plan to continue playing well and look forward to a couple of weeks across the pond with the Scots and Scots The British are coming, especially with the way I play and the way I play.”

It’s set up perfectly for Fowler. This year’s Open takes place at Royal Liverpool, where he finished T2 in 2014 behind Rory McIlroy, who is also playing very well and will also attend the Ryder Cup in September, albeit on a different team. It would be a bit of a surprise at this point if Fowler wasn’t playing 8th or higher on the US side. The only question when it comes to choosing the captain will be who will partner Fowler in Rome. He played for four teams, three of which were losers.

For everyone else who will be on that team, Scheffler’s position is completely unavailable. He’s involved, and so is Clark. Koepka is more interesting in third because he’s with LIV, but given that the PGA runs the Ryder Cup and has no affiliation with the PGA Tour-LIV kerfuffle or pending deal, I assume Johnson will pick one. the big win of 2023 is in his team. Schauffele and Cantlay will almost certainly be involved, but then things get interesting.

Homa and Bradley are trending in different directions, Spieth is clinging to a potential auto bid with his best major — The Open — on deck. Morikawa looks great in Detroit this week, JT not so much. Cameron Young and Sam Burns have only had one person in the top 10 each since the Mind Game, which Burns won. McCarthy and Kitayama are unproven and are not expected to be on the team. We haven’t even heard of Harris English, Tony Finau or Sahith Theegala, all of whom are outside the top 12 and could play their way into the team or close enough to warrant a pick.

With Ryder Cuppers on the sidelines (such as Bradley and McCarthy) playing excellent golf and supposed locks (such as Thomas and Finau) playing badly, the US side could make some extremely difficult decisions. Those decisions will also be made sooner than expected, as Johnson will make his picks after the Tour Championship at the end of August. In fact, only five tournaments will be played by most top players. top in the world.

Fowler’s promotion last month is an example of how quickly things can change, and we could be talking about any number of players doing something similar two months from now. hour. But even as the picture of the US Ryder Cup begins to emerge with the rise of Fowler, Bradley and Morikawa, some of the rest remains a bit hazy with little time left to sort everything out. things before the best sporting events and festivals in Rome are underway.