Finau tapped as captain’s pick
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pennsylvania – Tony Finau has been named to the Ryder Cup team, the final pick by US captain Jim Furyk.
Finau joins Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods as Furyk’s four wild-card selections. Finau has 11 top-10s this season, including three in majors.
Eight automatic qualifiers were set after the PGA Championship, so the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs was effectively an audition. After his top-5 finishes in the first two events, Finau shot a final-round 65 on Monday to tie for eighth at the BMW Championship while Xander Schauffele, making a late run at a pick, finished one shot out of a playoff.
The Ryder Cup team includes three rookies (Finau, DeChambeau and Justin Thomas) and nine major champions.
The matches are Sept. 28-30 outside Paris.
The eight Americans who qualified on their own were Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed. Throw in Woods and Mickelson, and that gives the US team a lineup that has combined for 31 majors.
European captain Thomas Bjorn went with veterans for his four captain’s picks, adding Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Sergio Garcia to a team that had five rookies qualify on points.
Europe’s qualifiers were Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Thorbjorn Olesen, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Alex Noren.