Patton Kizzire soars into top 8 of Ryder Cup USA standings with Sony Open win
Just like that, Patton Kizzire is suddenly in the Ryder Cup USA conversation for 2018.
Kizzire won a marathon, six-hole, sudden-death playoff over James Hahn at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Sunday. It was Kizzire's second win of the 2017-18 Tour season, but the first in which he was able to pick up Ryder Cup USA points.
With his victory at Waialae on Sunday, Kizzire snagged 1,234 Ryder Cup points and soared from No. 50 in last week's standings, all the way to No. 8 this week. He was the only player to move into one of the eight automatic qualifying positions based on the performance at Sony. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson still occupies the top spot.
RELATED: Latest Ryder Cup USA points standings
Hahn also moved from No. 37 a week ago up to No. 13.
Kizzire's win pushed Kevin Chappell (now No. 14) out of the top 12.
The Sony Open in Hawaii marked the first full-field event for U.S. players to gain points in 2018 -- something they'll be able to do at every non-opposite PGA Tour event, WGC and major through the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive, concluding on August 12, 2018.
At that time, Captain Jim Furyk will have his first eight players -- automatic qualifiers.
The four remaining slots on the U.S. Team will be Captain's Selections. Three selections will be announced by Captain Jim Furyk following the Dell Technologies Championship scheduled to be completed on Sept. 3, 2018, and the final selection will be announced after the BMW Championship, which is slated to be completed on Sept. 9, 2018.
