We’re less than a week away from Davis Love III making the first three of his four captain’s picks, and about three weeks away from the opening tee shots (still waiting on Webb’s opener from 2014 to land by the way). I rounded up some twitter questions, and spent way too much time answering them below in what is Part 1 (of hopefully two parts) of the Ryder Cup Mailbag.

A lot of people are asking for my captain’s picks. I’ll give out what I would do at the same time that Love will be announcing his. I was clamoring for the US to change their system to allow them to make their picks as late as possible, and I’m on board with their approach so to name all four picks at this point would be premature. A lot can change over these coming weeks, and as I’ve said plenty of times, on September 7, 2014, no one was clamoring for Horschel to be on the team, and by the week of, we were incredulous that he was not wearing the stars and stripes. But of course, I’m going to break down all of my thoughts on the picks below.

I spent an hour and a half chatting with Shane Ryan on the Friends of Tiger podcast last week talking nothing but 

 if they pick Jim Furyk will a little bit of you die inside?



— Forearm Fischel (@LanceFischel5) 

I’m not gonna go full Bush 2003 and declare “Mission Accomplished” (you NEVER go full GWB), but I really want to think that we are safe now. I’ve 

already pleaded my case on why Furyk has absolutely no business being on this team

, and I’m hoping his uninspiring performances in the FedExCup playoffs have sealed his fate. If you go 10-20-4 in the EPL, you get relegated. You get sent to 

. But if you’re an American Ryder Cupper, you get to be one of the captains… and maybe even a captain’s pick!

However, Love has mentioned his name enough times to scare us into thinking that we could see Furyk tee it up for the 10th time (for future reference, we will call it 

Not So Fast, Very Furious 10: Minnesota Drift)

, and he’s thrown in some Trump like logic when inaccurately stating how well he’s playing. In reality, he’s actually had 

 (by the strokes gained measure, which is an average) since strokes gained became a stat, which should be qualify him to be forced to wear a hazmat suit on the premises to make sure his radioactive presence doesn’t infect any of the other players. He’s 37th in strokes gained average among Americans! And in the seasons where he’s actually been a great stroke play player (and there are many of them), he’s been at minimum one of the five worst Ryder Cup players 

One thing we do know is that Love has to pick him next Monday, or that he won’t be on the team. His season is over, and he has to save the last spot for someone that shows out at the Tour Championship, or else he basically defeats the purpose of the Horschel Rule. I just can’t see him locking himself to Furyk’s wagon with still so many guys out there right there on the edge (Moore, Berger, Woodland) that could really force his hand at East Lake.

The last note I’ll make on this is that a source close to the situation has told me that he really does not think that Furyk is going to be picked. This is hardly a confirmation, but this source was right on information he gave me on the Presidents Cup picks last year, so let’s hope he or she is on top of it again.

 who are your Ryder cup sleepers for ??? Does a guy like Ryan Moore have a shot with his recent play?



— Mick (@Reg_Daddy) 

 Woodland 9th American in SG: Total. Top 15s in playoffs, why isn't there more buzz for a pick? Runner up at '15 match play.



— MIKEY (@MKov1014) 

Let’s start by saying that I don’t think Kuchar, Bubba, Fowler, or Furyk for that matter would qualify as sleepers. How you and I define a sleeper may vary greatly from the next person, but for the purpose of this exercise, I’ll say Woodland, McGirt (don’t laugh), Moore, and Berger are your main sleeper candidates. I’ll talk more down below as to why I think strokes gained is a way better way to fill in your team than the current points system, but these guys stack up quite favorably with a lot of guys already on the team in that regard. The eight automatic qualifiers rank as follows:

One of those things is not like the other, and has done nothing this season to warrant being on the team, but that’s none of my business (

Here’s how the top non-qualifiers rank:

(One notable that is cut off is Justin Thomas, who sits at 53rd. More on him below.)

So over the course of the entire season, Rickie, Kuchar, and Bubba have been the best at beating the field out of all the non-automatic qualifiers. When Love makes his picks next Monday, this is who I think he’s going to go with (although, there’s a nugget below on the Holmes question which says that they are not high on Bubba). I have a hard time arguing against it. While their results may appear uninspiring, they are consistently outperforming their peers (which tells me a lot more about their seasons than the arbitrary points system does).

Yes, combined, those three have rather atrocious Ryder Cup records (Fowler is 0-3-4, Bubba is 3-8, and Kuchar is 4-6-2). If it were me, that record would matter more to me if I was looking much further down the list for their names. For instance, if Fowler is sitting where Webb is sitting in the standings, and I see that fat zero in the win column, the combination of those two factors has him snapchatting the Ryder Cup from Jupiter and not from Minnesota. Of these three, I think Bubba is the only guy who truly has his record working against him.

It would be interesting to see what a strokes gained stat for the second half of the year would look like. I’m not capable of producing that, but 

this guy has created one that includes numbers since the PGA Championship

. This helps Fowler, Moore, Kisner, Na, and Woodland, hurts JB and Kuchar a lot, and Bubba a little. But if Love wants the guys that have been the best over the course of the year, and have experience in the Ryder Cup (for whatever that is worth), then he’s going with Fowler, Kuchar, and Bubba.

Now for the sleeper, I don’t think he will, or should go past the Woodland, McGirt, Berger, and Moore names mentioned above.

I’m surprised that I’m not more intrigued by seeing Woodland’s name at the top of this list. I’m a Woodland fan, but used to be a much bigger one. Pre-NLU days, he was my 2010-2011 version of Brooks Koepka – incredibly long, swaggy, and just oozing potential from an impregnable frame. But since his breakout 2011 campaign, he’s been borderline forgettable, and even during this solid 2015-2016 season, I have exactly zero memories of Woodland doing anything noteworthy the entire season (probably because he has just two top-10’s on the season). That surely says more about me than it does about him, and he makes a ton of sense for a long course, but it just doesn’t seem like he’s done enough to warrant a pick.

I think the pick is going to go to whoever is the hottest of these four guys, and they’re most likely the ones. I’m not counting out the Na-Chappell-Horschel trio sitting there just a few spots back, but it will likely take a win for one of those guys to fully get Love’s attention.

I’ll close this by briefly mentioning Justin Thomas. This is where you’re expecting me to lobby for him to be on the team, but I’m not going to do that. I was shocked to see how far down he was on the strokes gained list, and while I know that does not mean he wouldn’t thrive in this environment, it’s hard for me to say that he’s been a consistent enough player to be trusted on the team. I only mention him here because, similar to Furyk, DL3 seems to say his name at every possible press conference, and if Thomas has a hot finish these last two events, it absolutely can happen. People I’ve talked to close the situation have told me that Love wants to pick him badly.

 US experience vs Europe inexperience an advantage or irrelevant? Half Europe's team are rookies



— James Manos (@jmanos89) 

Usually I’m thinking of this from the US side when I say that I don’t put much value in experience. The only Americans that even remotely showed out at Gleneagles were rookies, and over the past decade or so, the US records of the rookies and veterans have been generally a wash (a slight advantage even to the rookies, if I remember right…. not gonna recalculate this one).

From the European side, they of course have a ton of guys with fantastic records from their two decades of dominance. But what I don’t see are guys with great records that were snubbed for this team that strike fear in me. Poulter? Injured, and I actually wish he was there. He was awful in 2014, and I would love to see Reed bludgeon him again. Donald? Haha.

The Euros still have their core four that have incredible Ryder Cup records and great experience. They’ve quietly kept a revolving door open the last decade that has included the likes of Steven Gallacher, Jamie Donaldson, Peter Hanson, Nic Colsaerts. Ross Fisher, the flying Molinaris, Robert Karlsson, Thomas Levet, and David Howell. And they’ve still managed to stack trophies on the reg. So I’m going to say the experience factor for this year’s event is mostly irrelevant.

 Would you rather see DL3 take Ryan Moore (playing well hits it short) or J.B. Holmes (playing badly hits it far).



— Owen Calvin-Smith (@owencalvinsmith) 

Moore. J.B. has not really had a strong season, is not in good form, and doesn’t really strike me as a guy that will play great in Minnesota in (what could be) cold weather in October. Overall, he’s 33rd among Americans in strokes gained this season, and comes in even colder, having missed three straight cuts after the Open Championship, which cost him his automatic spot.

Hitting it far is great. Hitting it close to the hole with your second shot is even better. Holmes actually loses shots to the field with his approaches, while Moore ranks 35th. Moore also putts it a lot better when he’s on the green. Holmes is a truly elite driver of the golf ball, but you’re not sending out a one sided player like that in foursomes, and this team already has enough guys that fit the “only send him out in four-ball” mode. So for me, between those two, I’m taking Moore.

One more nugget I’ll share is that I know that both Love and at least one assistant captain really like Holmes (and are not high on Bubba), and that they aren’t necessarily looking for a guy that gets hot in the playoffs. The first part, I have a problem with, for the reasons states above. Other than perhaps camaraderie or cohesiveness reasons, I don’t know what Holmes gives you that Bubba doesn’t. Bubba hits it just is far, and is much more rounded than Holmes is, so I’m not sure what the justification there is.

The second part, I do agree with. A hot finish to the season doesn’t mean you’ll ball out in the Ryder Cup. But it also means to me that they’re leaning towards someone from the good ole boy network, rather than taking a flyer on a guy like Berger. Which I’m obviously not keen on.

 assuming it's foursomes Friday morning who do you pair and what order?



— Robert Giannotti (@robertgiannotti) 

Figuring out the team has always been fun to me, but for some reason, figuring out pairings has never interested me as much. If you have the better team, I have a hard time seeing a captain screw up the pairings so bad that it costs you significantly (even if Hal Sutton and Tom Watson tried his best to prove this statement wrong). Additionally, it’s hard for an outside observer to truly understand the complications of the player relationships, so in this regard I trust the captains to make the pairings way more than I do to make the proper selections for the actual team.

That being said, I think the foursome combinations are tough to figure out, and more important than the four ball, so I’ll at least take a shot.

: Reed/Spieth – I’m sending these two out together until it stops being wildly entertaining, or until Tom Watson comes parading down the fairway and runs them both over with a golf cart.

: Koepka/DJ – Bombers. Similar players with similar tendencies. Similar DGAF personalities. Would be an automatic advantage if a 2-on-2 basketball tournament broke out. Pairing just makes sense from every angle.

: Phil/Fowler – The legendary Tuesday partnership takes it to the big stage. Phil playing the role of the overexcited father that gets a little too jazzed up when his son hits an infield single. Rickie will probably be sporting a mullet. I can already hear the echoes reverberating across the Gopher State when Phil stuffs one from the rough on the opening hole. Also this separates the Walker/Fowler pairing that has been wildly unsuccessful at both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup but somehow still keeps happening.

: Sneds/ZJ – Hiding them in the back to make sure too much energy doesn’t get zapped. These two are going to be on the team, and are not going to sit out the entire first day, so you’ve gotta send them out in foursomes. ZJ won two foursomes matches the last time he was on home soil, and plays a similar grind it out style to Sneds. Throw this pairing out there, hope you don’t get the Rory/Sergio or Rose/Stenson pairing opposite them, and pray for a half point.

 Rory offers you a 2&1 loss on the 1st tee to save embarrassment so he can go do reps in the gym, how many USA players accept



— Robert Jones (@Rob_Jones91) 

Webb Simpson would be texting DL3 from his couch, volunteering to be on the next flight so he could be on that tee and accept that offer from Rory. ZJ would offer to make it 3&2. Reed would take a 25 pound dumbbell from the gym, put it in his own bag, and carry it around for 36 doing military presses in between in each shot to show Rory that’s he better than him at both golf and lifting.

 as a "task force" member, how would you modify the scoring system to ensure the best US qualifiers for 2018?



— Ryan Clark (@r_clark17) 

I think 100% captain’s picks would be a bit messy. It won’t ever happen, and it seemingly puts a lot of power (and subsequent pressure/blame) on the shoulders of the captain.

I think six automatic qualifying spots would be great, and six captain’s picks. Again, unrealistic, but the six automatic spots should go to the guys that played the best golf for that season. To me, that’s the top six in strokes gained. Zach Johnson making the team because he won a tournament six time zones away, 14 months ago, on a style of course completely opposite of Hazeltine makes absolutely no sense (I explained how 

silly, arbitrary, and volatile the points system can be here

I just don’t understand the point of giving away so many spots automatically. Would Sneds be on this team if he didn’t qualify on points? Why saddle the captain with a guy that he maybe wouldn’t have picked for the team himself? At least if you use the system I proposed above, you’re guaranteeing six spots to the six best performers (by measure of the best statistic that we have to measure that), rather than a points system that is specifically designed to protect a certain type of player (the veteran with a more selective schedule). Sure, we view majors with more importance than regular tour events, but are they really a great indicator of how well you will play in a Ryder Cup? Should they (when you factor in that the purses are larger, and double points are available in these events) count for almost triple the points of a regular tour event? I would say no.

 what do you think of Thomas Pieters pairing with Rory? ? ??



— Martijn Staal (@m_staal) 

I think that terrifies me. But it doesn’t seem that likely.

The Euros seem to pair their stalwarts together, and Rory almost never gets paired with the rookies. In 2014, he played three times with Sergio, and once with Poulter. In 2012, he played three times with McDowell, and once with Poulter. In 2010, three times with McDowell. Rory and Sergio went 1-1-1 in 2014, but I’m guessing we see them together again, and also the formidable Rose/Stenson pairing as well (3-0 together in 2014).

These matches are going to be huge. If the US can somehow play Rory/Sergio and Rose/Stenson neutral, they should win the cup. Despite some rather uninspiring play this season, I like the U.S. team’s depth at 5-12 more than I do Europe’s, and guys like Andy Sullivan, Chris Wood, and Rafael Cabrera Bello should (I repeat, 

) be quite beatable. Keep those top four from going full Poulter 2012 and the cup should be ours, and if you can somehow beat them, this thing shouldn’t be close.

 if there was a sudden death playoff between 1 AM and 1 EURO player, who do you think would be the most exciting golfers to watch



— Christopher Fischer (@ChristopherFi17) 

Rory vs. Reed would be the most exciting from an emotional standpoint. Just imagine for a second that Patrick Reed makes a 15 foot birdie on a sudden death hole to win the Ryder Cup on home soil. No one likes to exaggerate hypothetical Reed scenarios more than I do, but I want to ask, what would Reed 

 do if this happened? I truly believe he would run right up to the Euro team standing greenside, and bob each one of them on the head like the bash brothers did to the Iceland bench in D2. Then he’d take his putter and throw it like a javelin through a clubhouse window.

OK, fun’s over. If this were the format, I’m guessing the power rankings of who DL3 would send out there would start with Spieth, and go no further than DJ.

This format would be too much for me to handle as a fan. I would be curled up in a ball on the floor watching from in between tiny gaps in my fingers. Bernhard Langer can win every Champions Tour event for the next twenty years and he’s still going to be known for his deciding missed putt in 1991. I would hate to see someone else get Mahan’d in the most public and excruciating way possible, and have that moment define their career.

 AS 18th tee match to the decide the Cup. Who would you rather have out there, Bubba or Furyk?



— Tucker Blankinship (@TuckerBlanc) 

Ryder Cup Mailbag

The FedEx Cup Playoffs kicked off last weekend at legendary Bethpage Black on Long Island. The top 125 players in the season-long rankings battled it out over the storied track, and American hero Pat Reed took home the spoils, overcoming a Chris Berman-esque final three holes as he 

This weekend the tour makes its annual Labor Day pilgrimage to the Northeast, stopping in Norton, Massachusetts for the Deutsche Bank Championship. It’s one of only two Friday-Monday tournaments in the rotation (the other being Kapalua’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions). Labor Day always feels like the official end of summer to me, and as August closes faster than an elite NFL corner, I still exhibit low-level PTSD symptoms whenever I see a back to school commercial. The upside is three days of work-free, high-stakes golf. High stakes because, while you might not care who cashes that monstrous check after the Tour Championship, there are only two events left before Captain Davis Love III starts to make his picks for the U.S. Ryder Cup squad.

If you’re reading this, it’s more probable than not that you’re at least generally aware of the massive impact that Cpt. Love’s picks will make on this year’s Cup. Love has four picks at his disposal, one more than Tom Watson did in 2014, and an abundance of options from which to choose. I won’t hijack the DBC’s preview and turn it into a full-scale Ryder Cup breakdown, but let’s just say that there are a few players you should keep your eye on this weekend in Norton. In no particular order, these are:

Since being yoked to the FedEx Cup cash cow in 2007, the DBC has turned into a premiere stop on the tour, with the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup standings competing for a $7 million purse. That means that nearly every big name on tour will be out there. Big names not in the field include Masters champion Danny Willett (86th in the FedEx Cup points standings, but skipping the event), and former Ryder Cuppers Shane Lowry (102nd) and Keegan Bradley (103rd). .

The strength of this field has usually produced a top-notch champion with Phil, Vijay, Steve Stricker, Rory, and Henrik Stenson among the winners since ’07. Big Cat took the title in ’06 and Adam Scott scored his first pro win here in the inaugural DBC way back in 2003, a year before the Curse of the Bambino was lifted.

Rickie Fowler comes into this week like a dog with a plate of stolen people food: excited, but gun-shy. The good news: the mustachioed Puma rep won this event last year, coming from behind to beat Henrik Stenson by a shot. The bad? Three great rounds last week had him on the verge of both a win and an automatic Ryder Cup berth, before a 3-over 74 left him tied for 7th.

If a balky knee doesn’t hold him out of the event, Henrik Stenson is always a threat to contend at TPC Boston. He won the thing in 2013, and in between WDs at the U.S. Open and Barclays, he’s gone 1-T7-2 in his last three events (including the Olympic silver). Speaking of silver, the Swede took 2nd place in this event last year after rinsing his tee ball on the par-3 16th, where the tees had been stretched to a previously unseen 188 yards. Also, if we’re going really deep here, 7 of his last 10 rounds at TPC Boston have been 67 or better.

Pat Reed is ramping up his ‘Merica tour with fiery quotes like these:

Patrick Reed is going to ride a bald eagle to the first tee at Hazeltine! 

Start the countdown to Hazeltine. Reed on clinching his spot: "I want sweet revenge, just like our whole team does."



— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) 

…which turned his W last week into a kind of pre-emptive “F you” to the entire continent of Europe. Several right-to-left doglegs here at TPC will suit Reed’s preferred draw off the tee, so he could find himself in the hunt come Monday (apologies for the Buffett).

Jason Day comes in hot, having finished top 25 in every event since the Memorial (including four top 5s), and sporting putting numbers that are flat-out dominant. He’s wielding that red TaylorMade Spider 

) like a magician – just look at Kyle Porter’s tweet for some context:

The second-best putter on the PGA Tour is closer to No. 25 than he is to No. 1. Day continues his lunacy. 

Fellow putt-maker Brandt Snedeker has described TPC Boston’s greens as “perfect”, so the possibility of some long-range bombs dropping home seems distinct.

Also, Charley Hoffman always plays well here, and he’s 

The par-3 16th from the left of the green

Before Arnold Palmer Design got the go-ahead to route a golf course through this rural area, the land was used for some very traditional blue-collar New England industries: gravel mining, charcoal production, and lumber milling for shipbuilding. I can practically smell the cigarettes and PBR.

The King’s routing proved a bit too stiff a test, which might be unsurprising. It reminds me of the anecdote on Ted Williams being a terrible hitting coach – he couldn’t figure out why his guys couldn’t just get up there and hit. Anyway, Palmer’s layout was shortened and softened by the hands of Olympic course architect Gil Hanse along with local pro Brad Faxon in 2007.

TPC Boston checks off a lot of the quirks and design features that typify a New England golf course – exposed rocks and stone walls; sand traps and waste areas edged with uncut fescue; blind approach shots; and relatively small, challenging greens. Hanse and Faxon deserve credit for the local flavor, as both Steve Stricker and Stewart Cink have noted in the past that the track 

. The best bit of work Hanse and Fax did was to eliminate many fairway bunkers in favor of the more traditional chocolate drop mounds found at courses ’round these parts. Expect Johnny Miller to reference the local “flavor” (heh) that these little bumps impart to the track.

The one thing they couldn’t (or chose not to) incorporate was elevation change – the track plays relatively flat the whole way through, which is characteristic of the terrain in the low-lying Norton area but not at all representative of New England as a whole. Many of the more dramatic courses in the Northeast, such as The Country Club in Brookline and Granite Links in Quincy, get much of their character from being routed through and across the rolling New England topography.

At more than 7,200 yards, this par-71 has the bones to test the best players in the world, though the course usually gives up some low numbers. The tournament scoring record is a blistering 262 (-22), shared by Vijay, Stenson, and Charley Hoffman. Having played this course a few times myself, I’d have to say that the buzzword for the weekend (other than ‘fall-line’) is precision. Bombers will have a few chances to let loose with no regard for human life, particularly on the front 9, where 2, 7, and 8 all reward long tee balls without offering too much trouble. But many holes feature cross bunkers, doglegs, and funky looks into greens that slope in odd directions and open at strange angles to the fairway. You need to know your numbers here, and often the best line into the green forces players to find weird corners of the fairway that the average hack (read: me) wouldn’t think to aim for.

Nothing like coming up short from 75 yards out.

There’s one major change this year, as the driveable par-4 4th hole has grown a beefy set of back tees that can stretch this little guy out to 353 yards. I’m not sure if that still counts as a “driveable” hole, and frankly I’m not thrilled that this measure was necessary. #RollBackTheBall

After attending the event last year, I can safely report that I was right on the money with my predictions for the clientele. The prep/bro contingent was in full force, and local flavor was provided by these guys, who ended up finding a 60s-ish man in full Ben Franklin attire that they adopted as their (founding) father.

They're calling themselves "America's children" 

This year, expect those rocking Vineyard Vines, boat shoes, and Ray Bans (think JFK in 

) to ride hard for a certain deceased member of the ape family. #RIPHarambe culture is as alive as Harambe used to be, and the only thing standing between many patrons and the dreaded post-shot telecast scream are a few tall, cool Budweisers. Also, feel free to insert any generic drunk Irish stereotype you may have here, some real ‘

Fowler and Stenson traded blows down the stretch, with Rickie hanging on as Henrik ballooned a 7-iron into the pond on 16. That eventually turned into a double, and flipped a one-shot lead into a deficit that the Swede couldn’t make up. This is one of those events where you have to go bird hunting on Monday to put yourself in position to win – there aren’t a ton of holes where they can hide the pin and make par a good score.

Two years ago, the drama was ratcheted up to a 11, as Tom Watson’s Ryder Cup captain’s picks came out the day after the final round. As described 

, the shot-by-shot speculation on this matter was breathless to say the least, but it was all for naught as Ol’ Cap’n Tom took three guys (Mahan, Bradley, Simpson) heavy on experience and (with the notable exception of 

Also, Billy Horschel did a thing not many professional athletes had ever done and got a 

. After his scorched-earth effort during the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Horschel was the hottest player in the world and was forced to watch the proceedings at Gleneagles from his couch. Fast forward to now, and DL3 will be making the final U.S. pick live at halftime of Sunday Night Football on Sep 25, making the Dak Prescott-led Cowboys’ game vs. the Bears a bit more inviting.

. I’m getting long-winded here, so I’ll be brief. Hate anyone with better than 20-1 odds, including Day because, though he’ll probably win, 6.5/1 is not nearly enough value. DJ and Rory can’t putt, Spieth missed the cut here last year, Stenson is hurt, and Fowler’s head is in a pretzel.

With the slightly longer course and forecast promising warm, dry conditions, ballstrikers like Adam Scott (22/1), Brooks Koepka (40/1), and Brandt Snedeker (50/1) are good plays.

Ralph Lauren has released the scripting for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, apparently using a 6-foot-5 Luke Donald as their model. 

In case you missed this, Skratch TV put together two quick Tiger montages: 20 years of 

. Sample quote: “At some point in my career, I hope it comes down to me. I want to be in the deciding match on the final day.” Whether you love him or hate him, he is one confident dude.

In the meantime, catch us on twitter for running commentary all weekend 

 if you’re itching for semi-cooked takes on golf, soccer (particularly Liverpool), and shitty pop music.

2016 Deutsche Bank Championship Preview

Jim Furyk is no stranger to the US Ryder Cup team, having played on the last nine teams dating back to 1997. His experience, presence on the task force, recent final round 58 at the Travelers Championship, seemingly “hot” play heading into the FedExCup Playoffs, and many of Davis Love III’s recent comments 

 that he would be a common sense pick for the 2016 U.S. Ryder Cup team.

The sooner you come to terms with Jim Furyk being a member of the Ryder Cup team, the better. It's going to happen.



— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) 

Furyk 18/18 GIR en route to 66, hit 38 straight GIRs dating back to Travelers. Sooner we acknowledge he's making RC team, easier it'll be.



— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) 

There is no doubt that Jim Furyk has had a hall of fame career, and is at minimum one of the best players of this entire generation. His consistency and longevity is almost unmatched in the history of the game of golf. But I’m here to tell you that there should be a national outcry if he is given a captain’s pick on this squad.

This has been well documented, but Furyk’s “experience” with the Ryder Cup has been a disastrous one. He’s been a part of every team since 1997, over which the US is sporting a 2-7 record. I’m for sure not saying the he is the one to blame for the American futility, but Furyk’s record in those events is a stunning 10-20-4 (with a hilarious 2-8-1 record in fourball). Ignoring the ties, he’s winning his matches at a 33% clip, which is a worse percentage than the New York Knicks had in 2015-2016, and they finished 13th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. The Braves are an MLB worst 44-78, which is still a better winning percentage (.361) than Jimmy boy in the stars and stripes!

Furyk’s point percentage (points scored divided by matches played, is an incomprehensible 32.3%, which is 5th worst all time of all US players that have played in at least six matches (63 players qualified, better than only Mark O’Meara, Ben Crenshaw, Chris Dimarco, and Miller Barber). Factor in that only seven guys have played in more Ryder Cup matches than Furyk has and you can easily see the depth of the impact that one of the worst Ryder Cuppers of all time has had on the nine teams that he has been apart of.

This all culminated in a painful way in 2012, with the U.S. team gripping on to an ever decreasing lead, and it coming down to Jim Furyk against Sergio Garcia at Medinah. Jim led 1-up on the 17th tee, and proceeded to throw up all over himself on the final two holes by bogeying them both, and lost to Sergio by one. The U.S. went on to lose the cup by one point. So remind me again why Furyk’s experience in the Ryder Cup is a positive? The sample we are dealing with, in Ryder Cup terms, is enormous. How many time are we going to keep banging our head against the wall before we realize it’s causing brain damage? Might I also add, that Furyk was a captain’s pick in 2012. The captain was of course Davis Love III.

How many times do we have to see this image?

Of the nine teams Furyk has been a part of, he has a winning record in exactly ONE (2008) of them. In all eight of the other Ryder Cups, his contribution to the team was negative!

The PGA of America elected to take the Corporate America approach in responding to the failures of the U.S. team. Come up with a trendy name, talk a lot about all the things you’re going to change, which makes it appear like you’re actually doing something, and at least make it seem like there is a plan in place. I know there is a lot going on behind the scenes that I am not aware of, but based on Love’s comments so far (more on this below), I’ve seen nothing that would make me think there have been any significant or noteworthy changes in the process. If anything, they made the problem 

 by including some of the same guys that have been on these losing teams to the so called task force, causing huge conflicts of interest when it comes down to the time to select the the captain’s picks. Both Rickie Fowler and Furyk are on this task force, and Furyk was already named to an assistant captain role. This was supposed to signify the end of the Furyk era at the Ryder Cup. Now he’s potentially involved in the decision over this own fate?

I really, really don’t want to discount the lowest recorded round in PGA Tour history, but let’s be honest for a second. It was played on a Sunday morning where is out of contention, and before the television cameras are even turned on. He was out for a Sunday stroll, facing absolutely no pressure until the final few holes, which by the way is the exact opposite atmosphere of the Ryder Cup. Yes, this round was absolutely incredible and historic, and nothing about the round itself should be discounted. But why is this round always referenced when discussing his candidacy for the Ryder Cup, and not the 72 from the day before? Which Furyk is more likely to show up at Hazeltine? Two over par Jim, or out of his body, 12 under par Jim? What is it about this round that convinced people that he will be able to stare down Rory/Sergio/Stenson/Rose come Sunday singles? Daniel Berger and Furyk both tied for 5th at the Travelers. Why did one round seemingly help Furyk’s status so much more than Berger’s T5 finish helped the youngster’s chances? It would be different if Jim was trending in a particular direction, but…

Uh… is he? I’ve seen it thrown around that if he was playing this well all season, he would have made it on points. Right? Well, no. Davis Love III said this at Baltusrol:

“We will factor that in there, that Jim Furyk missed a lot of tournaments that he played really well. I’ll have the stat crunchers go back and run 10,000 times if Jim Furyk played his normal schedule, where he would have finished, and he’ll probably pop right back up into the top five or six.”

Let me help you out Davis. Actually, if you only look at the points from Furyk’s first event of the season (the Wells Fargo) until now, he would be sitting at 10th in the US standings, behind names such as Daniel Summerhays and William McGirt. His T5 at the Travelers was his second top-10 of the season, the other coming at the U.S. Open at Oakmont. Of course, as I write this, he’s sitting in a tie for second at the Wyndham Championship after rounds of 66 and 64, and if he goes on to win this, DL3 likely has all the ammo he needs to justify the pick, but the point stands. He’s not nearly as hot as some people would like to make you think. There was no indication that this 58 was due to come, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation (to the extent that we are) if that one round doesn’t happen.

“You know, Jim Furyk played one, did probably one of the best rounds ever played in the history of the PGA Tour and he didn’t really move up much in points, but he got everybody’s attention that he’s playing really well. Then you go back and look, wow, Jim, he played great at the U.S. Open, he’s played really well in a lot of big tournaments coming after his wrist problem.”



Jim Furyk was out for — he probably missed ten, 12 tournaments. Every time he plays, he plays well.

Love’s comments are admittedly the most concerning thing at this point. He has been unable to keep Jim’s name out of his mouth when talking about captain’s picks, and the above quoted comments actually disturb me. Yes, as established earlier, he played a historic round. In what world does that indicate he would come even remotely close to replicating that under the highest of pressure situations? This is selective reasoning at its worst.

He’s played really well in a lot of big tournaments coming after his wrist problem?? Which ones, Davis? Was it his T59 at the Open Championship? T73 at the PGA Championship? T42 at the Bridgestone? T52 at the Memorial? Outside of the aforementioned U.S. Open, those are the biggest tournaments he’s played in this year, and if that’s considered playing “really well” then this U.S. team is going to get skunked. We need to get some political fact checkers to step away from the 2016 election and provide their input on the legitimacy of Love’s statements, because they sound more like propaganda than facts.

It’s not hard to read between the lines and see that Love has basically already made up his mind, and will be including Furyk as a captain’s pick. You can’t mention Furyk as much as he has, and then cold-bloodedly leave him off the team, only to ride around in a cart with him for a week.

Although the first selection is only three weeks away, I still say that it is way too soon for anyone to come to a conclusion as to who should be on the team. I give this topic an unhealthy amount of thought, and there isn’t one guy I would consider a lock at this point, much less a guy with Furyk’s background. At this point in 2014, was Billy Horschel on anyone’s radar? What if Furyk MC’s the Barclays, potentially ending his season? Too many unanswered questions as we approach the playoffs.

The bottom line is that there is no set formula for determining a captain’s pick. A hot series of rounds in August are not an indicator as to who will stand up to the heat in September and October in a completely different scenario. Having played in a Ryder cup previously is not a required pre-req for success (in 2014, the US rookies went 6-2-4, and in 2012, the rookies went 9-6). Even if a guy is trending in August, there’s no indication that 40+ days from now, he’s still going to be trending that same direction. We’ve all been clamoring for fresh blood, and this was supposed to be the year that they delivered that. If they don’t, it’s going be blood we’re after.

The Case Against Jim Furyk for the 2016 US Ryder Cup Team

After promising myself I would do this kind of stuff all the time, and making exactly one golf trip since moving abroad almost two years ago, I jumped a flight from Amsterdam to Dublin for a weekend ball striking extravaganza at some of the best courses the east coast of Ireland has to offer for my first ever experience with Irish golf. My buddy 

 picked me up at the airport, and we drove directly to 

my review of The Island Club here in Part I

). After some pizza, whiskey, and a few hours sleep, we were off for more incredible golf at The K Club (

). A quick pint and some lunch were had at the clubhouse, and then it was off to 

our review of all four courses in podcast form here

Keeping up with the theme of alternating links golf with parkland style, for our final round we made our way to Killeen Castle on a rainy Sunday morning. Before you reach the clubhouse, you pass the namesake of the course, Killeen Castle itself. The parking lot is surrounded by walls, which makes you feel like you’re inside a fortification. This may seem a bit contrived, but it feels more authentic than it does fabricated. We checked in with Andrew in the pro shop, and asked him what kind of walk we had in front of us.

After 54 holes carrying, and with the steady sprinkle showing no signs of letting up, we went for the cart (or “buggy” as they call it), which was 100% the right call.

The walk from the parking lot to the clubhouse

Joined by Barry’s friend Will, we took some pictures with the Nicklaus statue on the first tee, and our tee balls were in the soggy air. The typical traits of a Nicklaus course were apparent from the beginning: generous fairways, left-to-right shaped holes, deep bunkers, complicated green complexes, and immensely pure turf. Consistent with what we saw at the K-Club, there was not a blade of grass out of place.

Killeen Castle hosted the 2011 Solheim Cup, and you can tell that it is a course that is designed to host championship golf. In addition to the holes themselves being long, they are spaced out significantly at times. There’s plenty of space to the sides of each hole and around each green for galleries to gather and maintain a vantage point. As mentioned in the K Club post, there’s something inherently intriguing about playing on a golf course that is set up a bit like a theater.

The castle casts a shadow over the 18th green, and is easily viewable as well from the first tee box. It is viewable several other times during the round, and serves as a great backdrop for photos (although the pictures don’t really do justice to the size of it).

I’m not sure if it was the rain, the fact that we were playing at sea level, or a combination of the two, but I swear at one point I had to double check to make sure the yardages on the card weren’t measured in meters. The ball wasn’t going ANYWHERE, and it took almost a full 18 holes before I realized that I needed to swallow my pride and take an extra club to get the ball all the way to the pin. The tees that we played weren’t set up too deep (about 6,800 yards), but it felt like 7,200.

With that in mind, you can imagine how shock and admiration as to where some of the tee boxes were stretched to. The black tees at Killeen Castle play to a distance of 

. I am not exaggerating when I say that I think it would feel more like 8,000 yards than 7,600, if played in the conditions we were playing in. There were at least four or five par four’s that I would have been hitting three wood into, and seemingly half a dozen holes that I would struggle to reach the fairway. It was truly something to behold.

Once a month at Killeen Castle, they host an event called Black Sunday, where participants play it all the way back at the tips. According to Andrew, Danny Willett has the unofficial course record from the tips at even par. No one has ever broken par from the black tees! This was not surprising to me at all, considering I would have trouble reaching those tee boxes with a 9-iron from the white tees that we played from.

But even from the white tees, this golf course is more than a sufficient test of skill. Consistent with the above statement about there not being a blade of grass out of place, the greens were in immaculate condition. Perfectly true putting surfaces, but they posed a stiff challenge. Quite the opposite of our experience at the K-Club, it seemed like the type of place where you may need several rounds to learn the predominant slopes within the greens, as there were instances on long putts where I 100% misread the direction, and ended up ten feet offline.

The greens are mostly elevated, with strong, deep bunkering protecting them. The rain helped soften everything, and I was able to show my Irish friends the art of the American flop shot, which was the only part of my game that I actually had dialed in on this day (if anyone has tips on how to grip the club in the rain, I’m desperate). The par fives, in vintage Nicklaus style, provided some relief from the strenuous par fours, as they were gentle and gettable.

Of course, as we played the final three holes, the rain stopped just in time for us to finish. We stopped in the pro shop to give a quick thank you to Andrew, and he asked us how we would rank the four courses we played. We ducked this question like Muhammad Ali dodging a punch in his prime. It’s an absolutely impossible question to answer, as each course was truly unique and different, and offers such variance in your experience.

I loved the Killeen Castle experience, and would strongly recommend it to anyone in the area. It may not be the traditional Irish links golf style that you may have the image of in your hand, but it is a fun, fair, and challenging test to mix into your trip itinerary. Just make sure you’re not showing up on Black Sunday, because I promise if you’re reading this blog, you don’t have the game for it.

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Killeen Castle

In a lead up to the Ryder Cup and in the same vein as our YOTTO profiles of old, NLU will be profiling some up and coming players on both sides of the cup. Today’s profile on Rafael Cabrera Bello is by Guest Contributor Thomas Spagnola, a rising senior and co-captain of the Bowdoin College golf team.

Rafael Cabrera Bello is a thirty-two year old Spaniard poised to make his Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine. He currently ranks fifth in World Points and seventh in European Points, the former of which will likely be enough to solidify his place on the team.* Though he has flown under the radar for most of his 11 year pro career, success in 2016 has moved Rafa and his pastel Oakley attire to the periphery of the PGA Tour limelight. His Oakley outfits are traditionally less atrocious than Bubba’s and Zach’s, but we offer him a pass mainly due to his murdered-out look at the 2015 Irish Open seen below (The Euros should make this their team uniform, buff and all). With an all-around game that features above-average distance, solid tee-to- green play, and consistent putting, Rafa will look to make waves in Minnesota this fall.

RCB’s cameo as a villain in the upcoming Bourne movie.

Given his laid-back style, love of surfing, and superb iron play, Rafa can be best classified as a Spanish-lite version of Adam Scott. The sweet-swinging Spaniard has two professional victories on the European Tour since turning professional in 2005, but 2016 is shaping up to be a career year. In his pursuit of another victory, Rafa has posted six Top-10s and twelve Top-25s this season, including numerous strong performances on American soil. His results include a 3rd at the WGC Dell Match Play, a 4th place finish at the Shell Houston Open, T-11th at the WGC Cadillac Championship, and T-17th at the Masters. Bello currently sits 27th in the OWGR and 4th in the Race for Dubai. Though its fair to be skeptical of European players and their OWGR given the European Tour’s typically weak field strength compared to the PGA Tour, Rafa has shown that he’s a legitimate threat against the world’s best, and right on queue, he’s atop the leaderboard at Wyndham this week with a 

 (fingers crossed he avoids the “Camilo” move down the leaderboard tomorrow…).

Look at that MOVE.

In addition to his recent stretch of compelling golf, Rafa’s career match play record is impressive at 10-5, highlighted by the 3rd place finish at the WGC Dell Match Play. (Courtesy of a consolation victory over the less than enthusiastic Rory McIlroy.) This match play prowess could bolster the one area where the European Team has recently lagged behind the U.S. Team; rookie performance. Dating back to the 2010 Ryder Cup, the European rookies have an overall record of 12 wins (35%), 15 losses (44%), and 7 halves (21%). This record falls short compared to the U.S. rookie overall record of 23 wins (46%), 18 losses (36%), and 9 halves (18%). And, perhaps Rafa can channel the stellar past performances of his countrymen in the Ryder Cup; Spanish players have historically won or halved 68% of their Ryder Cup matches. Rafa’s early August trip down to Rio for the Olympics with Sergio Garcia presents an 

 to pair the Spaniards together in the Ryder Cup. After the Garcia/McIlroy pairing finished with a 1-1- 1 record at Gleneagles in 2014, the Ryder Cup stalwart may be searching for a new partner. Keep an eye on RCB in September.

 The European Ryder Cup team’s bemusing ranking system includes two different lists: European Points list and the World Points list. Of the nine total players that qualify via points, four players come from the European Points list and five players come from the World Points list.

Player Profile: Rafael Cabrera Bello

Nothing about David Simms is redeeming. His cool guy visors and hammy persona are nothing more than a disingenuous façade. We know this not only because he reeks of smarminess, but also because we witness him berating the elderly, swearing at children, and dissing puppies post-round while ripping a lung dart:

Simms is also the first ever PGA Tour player to unbutton 2 buttons on his polo to rock the deep V, which is a direct counter to Bubba’s fully buttoned choker shirt. This may be the one instance where I’ll defend Bubba because, dang it, this is golf, not a Miami nightclub. Worst of all, Simms is a guy who builds his golfing identity entirely around laying up. While I respect his data-focused mindset in vowing to play the percentages – which makes him way ahead of his time in 1995 – I can’t understate how deplorable he is for laying up from 230. His tour card, man-card and credit card should have been revoked by tournament officials on the spot – #LPCP.

Sweater Vest, Yikes. Lacks Pop; Can’t Play

The flaws in Goldfinger’s game are all too apparent. A true gamer doesn’t miss 1 footers no matter how many bars of gold are tossed onto the green 

. A true gamer also doesn’t need 5 waggles and 30 seconds to tap in a 1 footer. Not even Sergio circa 2008 was that yippy, but to be fair, it wouldn’t be easy to play against James Bond heads up in a match, particularly when he’s crafting overly complicated schemes to try to catch you cheating. Couldn’t Bond have simply called Goldfinger out for pulling the old “oh, here it is” routine when he couldn’t find his tee ball? Talk about passive-aggressive tactics.

His “it’s all in the hips” putting stroke is a chief indicator of a mediocre golf game, despite his above average bunker play (his sand shot prompted Nick Faldo to say “he must be an Aussie” because according to Nick, Australia is one giant sand trap). However, he gets points for having next level confidence and being a degenerate gambler. I heard that Phil tried to contact Thomas Crown to set up a Sunday Nassau after seeing this clip for the first time and was dismayed to find out that he’s a fictional character.

On the positive side of the ledger, it’s clear that Spaulding is not the laying up type. He’s a guy who stealthily finishes off spent cocktails at country club parties and boldly approaches floating excrement in swimming pools. To a fearless cat like Spaulding, staring down the barrel of 260 to the pin with water on the left is as relaxing as listening to Kenny G on Quaaludes. Unfortunately, Spaulding’s swing is more conducive to chopping wood than flushing iron shots. With a flatter swing and less Henrik Stenson-esque tantrums, he could be a nice player.

Hailey’s direct hit on Peter Klavin’s shin demonstrates true shot making ability:

As much as Bubba shapes the ball, I’d like to see him hit a ball directly sideways with decent ball speed. If she adjusted for her shank-push by aiming 90 degrees left, she’d be notching GIRs left and right. Most impressively, she’s able to put a firm strike on the ball despite looking squarely at the target halfway through her backswing.

It’s similar to how Spieth looks at the hole on short putts only, like, 5 times cooler.

I’m going to make a bold claim: Happy Gilmore’s Tour Championship win is more impressive than Tiger’s dominant US Open win at Pebble Beach in 2000. Let’s break it down:

First, remember that Happy hadn’t been to a golf course until his late 20s. Considering golf dominance is basically a function of having the work ethic and discipline to practice for thousands and thousands of hours, Happy’s immediate success is like bowling a 300 on your first trip to the lanes. Beethoven may have composed his first piece at age 12, but I’d like to see him try to crank out a 400 yard drive.

At the same time, most would categorize Happy’s early career coaching as haphazard at best. Critics of Chubbs Peterson (RIP) have pointed out that he never actually worked with Happy on any technical golf skills save for a nonsensical putting lesson at a putt-putt course designed to help Happy cope with the all too common situation of immovable obstacles falling onto the green during tournament play. Rather, Chubbs simply gave him the mantras “find your happy place” and “just taaaaap it in.” Perhaps Dave Stockton could have tweaked Happy’s putting stroke to become more refined, but you can’t argue with the results Chubbs achieved just by focusing on the mental game. I’m also pretty sure that Chubbs wasn’t a coach at all, but rather a prophet. On the flip side of the coin, Earl Woods had Tiger start ironing out his swing while he was still in the womb. From there, Tiger employed the best of the best in Butch Harmon and Hank Haney. I like to think that if I had this kind of coaching access I would’ve won at least 2 majors by now. It’s practically cheating.

Let’s also consider the layout of the courses each player had to navigate. At face value, it seems like every tournament on the “Pro Tour” depicted in Happy Gilmore was contested on a mediocre muni course. Capping off the Tour Championship, supposedly the biggest tournament of the year, with a trouble-less 150 yard par 3 is a surprising move that reportedly caused Mike Davis to have a stroke when he found out. However, if you are to believe the “fly-by” camera shots of Happy’s drives, most of the par 4s on tour are 1000 yards and often require the golfer to play directly over 2 lakes. I mean, just check out the tee shot on the first hole of the Waterbury Open, which isn’t even a pro tour stop:

Bobby Trent Jones must have designed the Waterbury track while in the throes of his LSD phase. Not only are trees forming a wall 100 yards in front of the golfer in the middle of the fairway, but it’s at least 350 to carry this giant lake in the middle of the hole. So while you’d think Pebble Beach presents a more difficult challenge than the $25 a round muni’s the pros play in Happy Gilmore, the funky layouts make it a wash.

Tiger holds the obvious edge when it comes to caddy quality. While I find Stevie Williams to be morally bankrupt, he undoubtedly provides more value on the bag than a guy who has zero caddying experience and is actually bankrupt.

I’d also like to point out that Happy was able to overcome what I’ve estimated to be a sextuple bogey during his final round to pull out the win. What the movie failed to explain is that Happy, in addition to being a prodigious if unconventional golfer, also possesses magical powers that make sextuple bogeys only drop him one shot. That’s some serious Houdini sorcery. I’d like to see Tiger pull that one off. He couldn’t even move his ball a 

quarter of an inch without everyone flipping out

Finally, let’s also remember that Happy was struck squarely by a Volkswagen Beatle in the middle of his final round. That had to be disconcerting. Tiger is no stranger to playing through pain and adversity himself. His US Open win with a torn ACL ranks up there on the Willis Reed Scale of Heroic Injured Athlete Performances™. Regardless, it doesn’t compare to being struck by a car mid-round.

If the montage sequences in Happy Gilmore are accurate, then we must conclude that Shooter won something like 10 tournaments in the 1995 season, which would eclipse Tiger’s 9 wins in the 2000 season as the most wins in a season in the modern era. This is no small feat, especially when you consider that Shooter accomplished this run while having shoddy caddying (a 5 iron for a 25 yard pitch in heavy rough? Please) and no swing coach. An unfortunate ruling requiring Shooter to play from a patron’s foot paved the way for him to make the most impressive par in recent PGA history, solidifying his legendary status. Frankly, I’m surprised that a 30 for 30 hasn’t been made about the 18th hole at the Tour Championship yet.

Shooter is also unequivocally at the top of the official Tour Sauce power rankings based on his bad-ass “shooter” celebration, his swagger oozing post-round interviews that Patrick Reed undoubtedly studies for inspiration, and his penchant for ripping stogies while cashing oversize victory checks. Shooter sports lacy sweater-vests over Tom Ashworth polos on Sundays. Enough said.

The unfinished follow through of a true NLU hall of famer…

As much as I enjoyed the Andrew Landry underdog story in this year’s US Open, his story pales in comparison to Tin Cup’s US Open run. If some guy ranked outside of the top 1500 who operates a shoddy driving range as his day job qualified for the 2016 US Open and shot 83-62 (also known as a “Reverse Camilo Villegas”) in the first 2 rounds, I might actually have passed out from excitement. At the same time, no one takes the No Laying Up creed more seriously than Roy McAvoy. He literally has “NLU ‘til I die” tattooed on his left butt cheek, and I heard that shortly after his US Open antics, he tried to run for Texas State Senate strictly on a No Laying Up platform. For that, he has our unwavering respect and admiration.

Alright, let the argument begin: what fictitious sticks did I leave out?

Fictional Golf Character Power Rankings

The United States Ryder Cup qualifying system is questionable at best. It’s not horrendous, but it’s fair to call it a bit arbitrary. The whole idea that someone can qualify for the team, but might not be a guy that the captain wants on the team means that you are already handicapping the captain regarding his strategy (

). At least we can say that there was a step in the right direction with the addition of an extra captain’s pick (up to four from three in the most recent Ryder Cup), following the 2014 fiasco that prevented Billy Horschel from making the team despite being the hottest player on the planet.

This time of year, we spend weeks pouring over data as come up with who we would ideally like to see fill in the remaining available spots on the Ryder Cup teams. Being the unapologetic American homer that I am, I felt the need to break down the candidates on the U.S. side as I’m not even sure which route I would prefer Davis Love III to go with his picks.

The tendency for most armchair analysts is to pull up the Ryder Cup standings, look at who is 9-12 on the list, pick the guys you like on that list, then scroll down the list to find the names to fill out the roster. But is the current points system the best reflection of who is playing well/deserving of a spot? You don’t like someone else’s take on a captain’s pick? Just say “well if he really deserved a spot, he would have made it on points,” sit back, and watch the takes roll in. But if the points system is flawed to begin with then how much water does that argument hold?

I’m not saying that this system needs to be scrapped entirely, but it has its inherent flaws. The what-if scenarios below demonstrates just how volatile and arbitrary the scoring system is, and shows that, with some rather minor tweaks, the team would like quite different. Additionally, it may change your perspective as to who is most deserving of a captain’s pick, as some of the guys that are currently on the bubble wouldn’t even be in the picture if not for the current points system. At the moment my mind is changing on a daily basis as to who should make the team, so I’m not really pushing any particular agenda here.

Here is how the point system currently works. The top 8 in the points after The Barclays automatically qualify for the team. Points are determined by the following criteria:

Prize money earned in the 2015 majors (one point for every $1,000).

Prize money earned in the 2015 PLAYERS Championship, WGC-Cadillac Championship, WGC-Dell Match Play, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and WGC-HSBC Champions (one point for every $2000):

Prize money earned in 2016 official events from 2016 Hyundai Tournament of Champions through 2016 The Barclays (One point for every $1000, excluding the majors and events played opposite majors and World Golf Championships):

Prize money earned in the 2016 majors (two points for every $1000): The Captain gets four captain picks.

Notables: Sneds (9), Bubba (10), Kuchar (11), Fowler (12)

This is the team that I am using for the baseline for each of the scenarios below. Each scenario is compared to the team as it currently stands ahead of the Wyndham Championship.

Scenario 1: Points from only the last Six Months

If we only included the points earned since the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, here is how the team would change. I also included where their rank in the standings would be in this hypothetical situation:

: Berger (9), McGirt (10), Bubba (11), Chappell (12)

The six month timeframe is a bit arbitrary, but shows who has been trending this year, and chops off guys that are hanging on to points from over 180 days ago. This is a really bad look for Fowler and Snedeker (although admittedly, Fowler had a solo 2nd the week before the cutoff of this analysis). Clearly this is the least likely system that the PGA of America would ever consider using, but it is included here more to show the trending factor. Fowler and Sneds are currently whatever the opposite of trending is.

You’ll also start to notice a trend here with ZJ soon….

Writing

Ryder Cup Mailbag

2016 Deutsche Bank Championship Preview

The Case Against Jim Furyk for the 2016 US Ryder Cup Team

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Killeen Castle

Player Profile: Rafael Cabrera Bello

Fictional Golf Character Power Rankings

How Would the United States Ryder Cup Team Look if the Points System Was Different?

Thoughts From the US Senior Open

Olympic Golf Primer

Preview: U.S. Senior Open

Hartford History: The Travelers Championship Preview

#TourSauce Roundup for PGA Championship Week

A Window into No Laying Up

2016 PGA Championship Preview

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part III: Portmarnock Golf Club

Little Hercules Golf Classic: Funding Research to End Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Open Championship Live Blog/Chat

First-Time Winners on Tour (2016 vs. Prior Years)