Good News, Bubba Watson Also Joined by Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas at Ryder Cup Practice

It may be time for a little celebration. Yesterday the Golf Channel reported that Bubba Watson was at Hazeltine to practice with Davis Love III, which in most people’s opinion – including my own – meant that Bubba was a lock to be the final captain’s pick.

Now we learn from T.J. Auclair that Watson wasn’t the only potential pick that made the trip. Watson was joined by Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas.

This is good news if you’re like me and would rather see a Berger or Thomas on the team than Bubba, but Bubba is the highest ranked player not only in Ryder Cup points, but also in the world who isn’t on the team.

Another interesting bit of information that should be noted, thanks to one of Geoff Shackelford’s readers, is that if you look at just points from the 2015-2016 wrap-around season, Zach Johnson would be nowhere near as high in the points as he currently is and Justin Thomas would be near the top.

If the U.S. loses this year and changes to the selection process are called for, the extended points earning period should be shortened.

Yes the Ryder Cup is played every two years and it seems like a good idea to take points from the next two years to make selections for the next team, but a player may have a ridiculous season the first year and follow that with a horrible one the Ryder Cup year. That player who played great in year one of the selection process may have earned an automatic spot, and even though they may be playing horrible golf in the second they are still on the team.

I think this should change. Maybe a good way to do so would be to weight the majors of the first year, in this case 2015, a little less than the second year and also give points for wins during the wrap-around season; currently they are only awarded for events from Jan. 1 through and including the Barclays in August.

[HT Shackelford]