Golf News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Brooks Koepka Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Is Brooks Koepka still a lock to make the Ryder Cup team?

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 7/24/23

As Brian Harman's win at the Open Championship showed us, the list of players competing at the Ryder Cup in September is far from locked up.

Harman's victory at Royal Liverpool catapulted him up to third on the Ryder Cup points list, and since the top six players automatically qualify he is now on the team. The boost also meant he pushed other players down the list, including PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka. Koepka's place on Team USA has been a talking point given he defected to LIV Golf last year and things between the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit and the PGA Tour are still a bit iffy. There are four events left for players to get Ryder Cup points, but Koepka doesn't qualify since he plays for LIV, and the chance of falling out of the top six is possible.

So golf fans and talking heads alike are wondering: Is Brooks Koepka still a lock to be on the Ryder Cup team? And will team captain Zach Johnson pick Koepka to be on the team if he no longer automatically qualifies?

Here are the updated U.S. Ryder Cup standings following the Open.

Top six auto-qualify, and ZJ has six picks. There are four events left to earn points ($1,000 = 1 point at the 3M, Wyndham, Memphis and BMW). After that, the standings are locked.

What's your biggest takeaway? pic.twitter.com/OLpkSDJGEU
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) July 24, 2023

As far as their relationship goes, Johnson and Koepka appear to be on good terms. So while Johnson previously said he didn't want LIV golfers on Team USA, he seems perfectly fine with Koepka currently auto-qualifying.

"I wish he was still on the PGA Tour just because I enjoy watching him play and admire how he goes about his work," Johnson said last week at Hoylake, via Golf Digest. "We've had quite a few talks, just he and I, as of late prior to this week. And text exchanges. But that was completely random. I'm glad it worked out because it was good to rub shoulders with him again because it's been quite some time."

As for selecting Koepka with one of his six picks for the team -- should Koepka fall down the list, that is -- the answer isn't as clear.

But that has more to do with talent and chemistry. Not about which tour a player is currently on.

"I think when it comes to the 12 best players, that's extremely subjective. How do you really measure that? Are you going to go off World Ranking, FedEx? What's your measurement? I think that's very difficult," Johnson said, via Sports Illustrated. "It's also very difficult to put the 12 best guys together for that week. But I'm leaning more on that. I don't know if it's horses for courses, but that's an element."

While Johnson's answer is a bit vague in that case, it does sound like he wants to include the best golfers in the most fair way possible. Add that to the fact that he and Koepka have had some one-on-one discussions and it seems very likely Johnson would use one of his six captains picks to select Koepka if he fell out of auto-qualification.

The cut-off for automatic qualification is August 20, after which point Johnson will select the rest of the team. The 2023 Ryder Cup tees off from Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome on Friday, September 29.

More must-reads: