USA
Will McGirt soars to 15th with Memorial victory
By T.J. Auclair On June 6, 2016 5:02 UTC
Winning can take care of a lot of things. Just ask Will McGirt.
After picking off his maiden PGA Tour win on Sunday at the Memorial, McGirt skyrocketed from No. 50 all the way up to No. 15 in the latest Ryder Cup USA points standings, easily the biggest move of the week -- and one that suddenly has McGirt in the Ryder Cup conversation.
Dustin Johnson padded his No. 2 position with a third-place showing at Memorial, while Phil Mickelson (T20, No. 6), Patrick Reed (T8, No. 7) and Matt Kuchar (T4, No. 9) all moved up one spot, respectively, based on their play at Muirfield Village.
The only other truly significant mover was Gary Woodland. He jumped nine spots from No. 32 to No. 23 after a T4.
Since the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minn., will be played in an Olympic year (with golf included in the Games for the first time since 1904), there have been some adjustments made to the qualifying calendar for Ryder Cup USA.
Here are the key qualifying dates:
- Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016: The top eight will be finalized at the conclusion of The Barclays, which is scheduled to finish on this date, as opposed to the traditional closing of points at the conclusion of the PGA Championship, which will be played in July instead of August in 2016 due to the Olympics. It also affords players an additional two weeks from past years to earn a spot on points.
- Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016: Love will select three of his four Captain's Picks at the conclusion of the BMW Championship, scheduled to end on this day.
- Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016: Love will make his fourth and final Captain's Pick at the conclusion of the Tour Championship, scheduled to end on this day.