Scottie Scheffler dominated The Open<\/a>, there’s a lot to think about when it comes to the United States team. There are obviously six auto-qualifiers based on the standings, but then captain Keegan Bradley has some serious decisions to make with Captain’s picks.<\/p>\nSo let’s take a snapshot as the mid-August deadline approaches for putting together a team that can take down the always-formidable Europeans who will play on the road at Bethpage in Long Island.<\/p>\n
Tier 1: The current auto-qualifiers<\/p>\n
1. Scottie Scheffler (qualified)<\/p>\n
2. Xander Schauffele<\/p>\n
3. J.J. Spaun<\/p>\n
4. Russell Henley<\/p>\n
5. Bryson DeChambeau<\/p>\n
6. Harris English<\/p>\n
DeChambeau’s unreal final three rounds at Royal Portrush basically guaranteed him a spot no matter what happens in the next month. But this group is kind of fascinating — English was on the 2021 team that won the Ryder Cup, Henley and Spaun would be rookies. You have to like having the world’s best golfer on your squad.<\/p>\n
Tier 2: Probably Captain’s PicksJustin ThomasCollin Morikawa<\/p>\n
They’re just outside the top-six at the moment, but you have to figure they’re going to hear their names called given experience and how they’ve played this year.<\/p>\n
Tier 3: Will captain Keegan Bradley pick Keegan Bradley the player?<\/p>\n
How awkward for Bradley! He’s played so well that he’d be an obvious pick for any other captain! I think he does it and becomes the first player-captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963.<\/p>\n
Tier 4: In the running for Captain’s PicksBen GriffinMaverick McNealyBrian HarmanPatrick CantlaySam BurnsWyndham ClarkTony FinauChris Gotterup<\/p>\n
An interesting mix here. You’ve got names with experience and some possible rookies playing in good form. If it’s me, I go experience over form, with apologies to McNealy and Gotterup.<\/p>\n
There’s still a lot of golf to play, though!<\/p>\n
Current Ryder Cup standings (top-six qualify)<\/p>\n
Scottie SchefflerXander SchauffeleJ.J. SpaunRussell HenleyBryson DeChambeauHarris EnglishJustin ThomasCollin MorikawaBen GriffinKeegan BradleyMaverick McNealyBrian HarmanAndrew NovakPatrick CantlaySam BurnsWyndham ClarkLucas GloverDaniel BergerCameron YoungTom Hoge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 British Open is over, which means the end of the golf season is looming… but then…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[24061,24064,2234,19553,4478,1076,14805,664,24063,24065,427,2091,19559,3,8306,13470,13471,24062,5573,24059,11383,24060,11678,5758,99,2415,1596,13035,6383],"class_list":["post-28039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-arnold","tag-arnold-palmer","tag-championship","tag-competitions","tag-cup","tag-europe","tag-exclude","tag-from","tag-ftw","tag-ftw-exclude-from-yahoo","tag-golf","tag-international","tag-international-sports-competitions","tag-news","tag-open","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-palmer","tag-positive","tag-ryder","tag-ryder-cup","tag-scheffler","tag-scottie","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-the","tag-the-open-championship","tag-yahoo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}