Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed Looking to Lock Up Ryder Cup Team Spots at The Barclays
By Michael Shamburger
Rickie Fowler can lock up a Ryder Cup spot today at The Barclays. Fowler finished the third round leading the tournament at nine-under, but right behind him is Patrick Reed. While Reed is currently ranked eighth in Ryder Cup points, putting him in the final automatic spot, Fowler is ranked 12th.
The current rankings are as follows:
If Fowler and Reed finish 1/2 after Sunday’s round at The Barclays, both would easily earn enough points to jump up high enough in the standings to earn themselves automatic spots on the team.
If things stay as they were at the end of the third round, Fowler would move up to fourth ahead of Walker and Reed would move up to sixth ahead of Koepka and Snedeker, who have locked up spots along with Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, and Jimmy Walker.
Neither Reed nor Fowler has a win on Tour this season. While Fowler did win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January, his closest win on the PGA Tour came at the Phoenix Open in February when he finished second to Hideki Matsuyama after a four-hole playoff. The second half of Fowler’s season has been fairly disappointing.
If the leaderboard stays similar to the end of the third round and Jason Day doesn’t make a charge to the lead, Fowler would also move to first in the FedExCup rankings.