Watson named fifth U.S. vice captain
Final captain’s pick Moore joins Koepka as Ryder rookie.
Bubba Watson will be at the Ryder Cup, even if it’s not exactly the way he imagined it.
U.S. captain Davis Love III announced Monday at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., that Watson has been added to the team as a fifth vice captain. That after the two-time Masters champion, ranked No. 7 in the world, failed to qualify as a player on points or persuade Love to choose him with one of four captain’s picks. Watson had played on the last three U.S. teams.
Ryan Moore, who lost the Tour Championship to Rory McIlroy in a playoff Sunday, was named as the 12th and last player on the U.S. team several hours later. After learning he’d been passed over, Watson repeated his desire to be a part of the team.
Love said: “It was an incredible gesture. We’re thrilled to have him.”
Moore making his debut: After a runner-up finish at the Tour Championship Sunday, Love added Moore, 33, a former UNLV star who joins Brooks Koepka as a first-timer.
The U.S. team added the fourth pick after a PGA of America task force argued that adding a “hot” player at the last minute could help it reverse course after the Americans lost three consecutive matches and eight of the past 10.
It became known as the “Billy Horschel” rule after he was left off the team two years ago despite a terrific end-of-season run.
Love had invited three potential picks to practice last week at Hazeltine — Watson and 23-year-olds Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger.
Homeowners look to cash in on Ryder rentals: It’s hard to imagine a more prime location for an outof-town Ryder Cup spectator to spend the night than Jason Wendlandt’s two-bedroom home in the Minneapolis suburb of Chaska. It’s 80 feet from the main entrance to Hazeltine, and well inside the tight, extended security perimeter.
And it’s $900 a night, sleeps four people and offers a view over Lake Hazeltine.
With most of the area’s 41,000 hotel rooms already booked, hopeful homeowners near and not-so-near the course are hoping to cash in, listing their homes on vacation rental sites. However, they’re finding out that asking for hundreds of dollars a day isn’t the same thing as getting that much.
Twenty-five people looked at Wendlandt’s Airbnb listing on Sunday alone. A neighbor with a similar house got $5,500 for the week, Wendlandt said, but no one had asked to stay in his home by Monday.He’salreadydropped the price once but knows time is running out with the first round slated to start Friday.
“I’ve been told by people who’ve been around the world and done stuff like this that anything can happen,” he said. “So, we’ll see what happens.”
Wendlandt said having the Ryder Cup played a pitch shot away from his home is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “If it doesn’t rent, I’ll just enjoy going to the Ryder Cup,” he said.