Team USA should be thrilled by this European Ryder Cup snub

Team USA filled out its roster for the 2023 Ryder Cup last week, so the 12 team members got to watch in curiosity as European captain Luke Donald announced his six captain's picks on Monday morning.

Three of the six names weren't surprises. Veterans Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose and up-and-comer Ludvig Aberg earned their spots on the team. The other three picks, though, stirred up some controversy due to a glaring omission.

Let's pretend — hypothetically, of course — there's a golfer who's won three DP World Tour events since last July and ranks fifth on the European Ryder Cup points list. Let's also say one of those wins came at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, which just happens to be the site of the Ryder Cup beginning on Sept. 29.

This same player ranks first on the DP World Tour this season in strokes gained off the tee, second in total strokes gained and fifth in scoring average. Maybe this player ranks third in the Race to Dubai standings behind only Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, too. Ever heard of them?

For the sake of this exercise, let's pretend this player has two wins and 12 top-25 finishes over his last 21 worldwide starts. We can also add that this player finished T23 at the most recent major championship and ranked seventh in the field in strokes gained off the tee, which put him ahead of elite drivers such as Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland and Rahm.

So, what if I told you this isn't hypothetical at all?

That's right: Adrian Meronk of Poland put together this resume over the last year, and he somehow wasn't selected by Donald as a captain's pick. Here are the players who were:

• Shane Lowry: No top-10 finishes since February, ranks 117th on the PGA Tour in shots gained on putting this season. 
• Sepp Straka: Won the John Deere Classic in July but has more missed cuts (five) than top-15 finishes (four) since March.
• Nicolai Hojgaard: Inexperienced at 22, winless since February 2022.
  

You could easily argue that Meronk's impressive body of work this year earned him a spot on the team over all three of those players. Instead, he'll be watching the Ryder Cup from home, and the Americans should be thrilled.