The eight American automatic qualifiers for the Ryder Cup are set in stone, and now, it’s time to focus on Davis Love III’s four captain selections.
With many viable options to choose from, we posed this question to fans on Twitter:
Who do you think Captain Love should pick for the remaining 4 team spots? pic.twitter.com/flUYkxfrF9
— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) August 28, 2016
A few common names came up repeatedly, while other responses varied. Here were the general feelings on golfers that could be headed to Hazeltine.
Rickie Fowler
Fowler was the most popular choice of the replies we received; he was included in virtually every (serious) response we got.
Fowler was disappointed he wasn’t able to clinch an automatic spot at The Barclays, but based on his ability and track record, he has a very good chance to play in the 2016 Ryder Cup.
Bubba Watson
Outside of Fowler, Watson was the second-most popular choice to capture one of the remaining spots by our fans. In many of our replies, Fowler and Watson were the first two names mentioned:
@bubbawatson and @RickieFowler for sure
— Shiny B Kaylor (@shinyb11) August 29, 2016
Fowler, Bubba, Furyk, and Kuchar.
— Josh (@mantygolf) August 29, 2016
Fowler, Watson, Holmes & Berger
— Mike G (@Big_Time_South) August 29, 2016
Watson had to battle just to make the cut at The Barclays, but he surged on Sunday, shooting a 5-under 66 to finish 13th overall on the weekend.
Matt Kuchar
Kuchar found his way into most of the theoretical foursomes we received, along with Fowler and Watson.
Keegan, Kuchar, Bubba, and Rickie.
— Josh Svendsen (@jsvendsen17) August 28, 2016
@JustinThomas34 @RickieFowler @bubbawatson and kuchar 🇺🇸🇺🇸
— Lu🐶 (@lu1674) August 28, 2016
Kuchar struggled this past weekend, but he has posted eight top-10 finishes in 2016 thus far.
Jim Furyk
Furyk drew the most conflicting opinions among our Twitter followers, which isn’t too surprising. On one hand, he shot the best round in PGA Tour history a few weeks ago.
furyk!!
— AUAV8 (@jlawson66) August 29, 2016
@PGAcom furyk!
— Fred Parent (@fred_parent) August 29, 2016
- Furyk, Fowler, Watson & Dufner
— Andrew Kitick (@akitick) August 28, 2016
On the other, Furyk hasn’t fared well in past Ryder Cups. His career record sits well below .500, as some fans noted.
if rather have Hossler or Rahm than Furyk. Not his event. Experience is 1 thing but JFs experience is losing
— Ted Graphos (@chuck1970) August 29, 2016
Justin Thomas
Thomas received a similar level of support from our audience to Furyk.
Fowler, Kuchar, Watson and Furyk (if he wants to play) if not Justin Thomas.
— Bret Walts (@BretWaltsWx) August 28, 2016
Kuch, Bubba, JT, and Rick
— Liam Bishop (@liambishop15) August 29, 2016
Kuch, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, and Rickie.
— Steve (@usmc81mm) August 29, 2016
The 23-year-old scored a third place finish at the Travelers Championship a few weeks ago, and he could inject some energy into an American squad that hasn’t won the Ryder Cup since 2008.
Here were some of our other most common responses, starting with J.B. Holmes:
Holmes , Watson , Fowler & Kucher.
— Donald Compton (@don_compton) August 29, 2016
Jason Dufner:
@PGAcom Rickie, JT, Furyk, Dufner.
— Rusty Joyner (@ConcordRusty) August 29, 2016
- Furyk, Fowler, Watson & Dufner
— Andrew Kitick (@akitick) August 28, 2016
And, naturally, we had some jokesters:
tiger woods, jack nicklaus, tom watson and arnold palmer
— Matt Wainright (@doubleparpickup) August 29, 2016
Ryder Cup play begins on Sept. 30, and it will be interesting to see if Captain Love agrees with our fans in determining the final four American spots.