Zach Johnson hinted that he didn’t even call Bryson DeChambeau or Dustin Johnson after not picking either of the Major-winning LIV stars for this year’s Ryder Cup.
The US captain went with Sam Burns, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas as his six wildcard picks, opting for those names ahead of the likes of Keegan Bradley, Cameron Young, Lucas Glover and both Johnson and DeChambeau.
Dustin Johnson famously went 5-0 at Whistling Straits last time out, while DeChambeau has returned to form this summer, notably winning the LIV Golf Greenbrier event after a 58 in the final round.
It seems that Johnson’s picks show that the pair have paid the price of joining LIV Golf and missing out on earning Ryder Cup points in PGA Tour events.
LIV players had only the Majors to earn points in, and Brooks Koepka’s T2 at The Masters and win at the PGA Championship earned him enough to finish 7th in the standings and gain a wildcard pick.
DeChambeau and Johnson, though, finished in 54th and 40th in the points list, with captain Johnson hinting that neither received a call.
Both men accepted offers reported to be north of $100m to join LIV Golf, with Johnson named the highest paid golfer in the world by Forbes and DeChambeau in seventh-position.
Had the star duo remained on the PGA Tour, they would have had tens more opportunities to earn points over the past 18 months and could well have found themselves inside the top six qualifying spots or at least in contention for a pick.
Other big name LIV players to miss out include ‘Captain America’ Patrick Reed, who misses his second consecutive Ryder Cup, Talor Gooch, who has won three times in the LIV Golf League this year, and Phil Mickelson, who will play no part in a Ryder Cup as a player or assistant captain for the first time since 1995.
With the golf world potentially unifying at the end of the year thanks to the proposed agreement between the PGA and DP World Tours along with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, the chances of LIV players being part of the 2025 Ryder Cup may well be greatly improved.
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly RSS Feed…