US Open Winner JJ Spaun and two-time major champion Xander Schauffele will join the US team’s world number one golfer Scotty Schauffele as they make their appearance in Europe at the Ryder Cup next month.
Spaun moved to second place in the US Team Points ranking and competed for the team in the third place finish of the season at the Fedex St. Jude Championship on Sunday in Memphis. He will become a Ryder Cup rookie.
Spaun ranks eighth in the official world golf rankings, losing to England’s Justin Rose on the third hole in the playoffs of a sudden death at TPC Southwind in the first leg of FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Rose and England’s Tommy Fleetwood have secured enough points to join European team Masters champion Rory McIlroy.
Spaun, 34, won his first major championship on June 15 when he made a 64½-foot birdie putt at the 72-foot hole at the Oakmont Country Club’s US Open.
Schaufele won his first two majors at the 2024 PGA Championship and Open Championship, slowing him down earlier this season with a painful rib injury. He has not won this year and has three top 10 and nine top 25 in the 14 start of the tour.
Ranked third in the world, Schauferle will be appearing in the Ryder Cup for three consecutive times. He has a 4-4-0 record at the event. This includes the 1-3 mark in 2023 with a loss of 16½-11½ for Europeans at Marco Simone Golf Club in the Roman suburbs.
The Golfers ranked 4th to 6th in US Points rankings at the BMW Championship this week at the Kakis Valley Golf Club in Owens Mills, Maryland.
Russell Henry, Liv Golf League captain Bryson Deccanbeau and Harris English are currently in the top six points.
US team captain Keegan Bradley will make the six captains’ selection on August 27th, three days after the tour championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Justin Thomas is currently in seventh place, followed by Colin Morakawa, Ben Griffin, Bradley, Maverick McNeeley and Andrew Novak.
Brian Herman (13th), Cameron Young (14th), Patrick Cantray (15th), and Sam Burns (16th) are probably also in the mix of roster spots.
The top six golfers in the European team’s point rankings on August 24th will qualify for the team. McIlroy, Rose and Fleetwood qualified with points, while Robert Macintyre, Tyrrell Hatton and Sepp Straka closed out their current top six.
Shane Lowry, Rasmus Højgaard, LudvigÅberg and Viktor Hovland concluded the top 10 and appear to be a good fit for being a captain’s pick if they don’t win one of the automatic berths.
Liv Golf League captain Jon Rahm will form the team on the 22nd. This means that Matt Wallace, Matt Fitzpatrick, Thomas Detry and Aaron Rai may be fighting in one or two spots.
