- Team USA's roster for the Ryder Cup is officially set.
- Daniel Berger, Scottie Scheffler, and Harris English took the final 3 spots on the roster.
- Patrick Reed was absent from the roster after he missed several recent tournaments due to illness.
Team USA's roster for the Ryder Cup is officially set.
This September, at Whistling Straits, 12 men will represent the United States as they attempt to win back the Ryder Cup from Team Europe, who dominated the competition in 2018.
Six golfers - Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, and Patrick Cantlay - automatically qualified for Team USA via a points system that has been running since 2019.
The remaining six spots on the roster were left to be filled by team captain Steve Stricker.
On Wednesday, Stricker made his picks official, adding Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Harris English, Daniel Berger, and Scottie Scheffler.
Four of Stricker's picks (Schauffele, English, Berger, and Scheffler), along with two of the players that automatically qualified (Cantlay and Morikawa), will be making their debuts as Ryder Cup rookies.
Here is the final roster for Team USA:
- Collin Morikawa
- Dustin Johnson
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Brooks Koepka
- Justin Thomas
- Patrick Cantlay
- Tony Finau
- Xander Schauffele
- Jordan Spieth
- Harris English
- Daniel Berger
- Scottie Scheffler
This team is stacked. Of the 12 players on the roster, Scheffler is the lowest-ranked player in the world, at No. 21.
The biggest surprise on the roster is the absence of Patrick Reed, who has performed well at the Ryder Cup in the past for Team USA, earning himself the nickname "Captain America." He has a record of 7-3-2 at the event, including a perfect 3-0 in singles play.
But Reed had missed two of the three playoff events capping off the PGA Tour season after being hospitalized with a case of double pneumonia. Though Reed returned for the final event of the playoff and finished respectably in a tie for 17th, it wasn't enough to make the roster.
"That was a very, very difficult call, kind of lost sleep over that one," Stricker said, per Golf Channel. "[Reed] is a tremendous competitor, he brings a lot to match-play
Another player on the edge of potentially making the cut was Phil Mickelson. He won the PGA Championship earlier this summer but has struggled to find a rhythm throughout the rest of the season. While not on the team as a player, Mickelson will join Stricker as a vice captain of the 2021 team, along with Fred Couples.
While the 12-man roster appears set, some questions still linger before the Ryder Cup tees off on September 24. At the top of the list is the status of Brooks Koepka, who automatically qualified for the team but had to drop out of the Tour Championship last week due to a wrist injury. If Koepka is not fit to play, one more spot on the roster will be available.