ATLANTA – Now comes the hard part – the waiting.
Whatever value U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson has placed on individual Tour Championship performances — and given Sunday’s finish at East Lake, Captain America has plenty to digest — there’s one step left. : the phone call.
Every captain will count this point in the process as the most difficult. After two years of qualifying and analysis, Johnson will shake hands with his vice captains and the six automatic qualifiers to round out the US team that will travel to Rome next month. Anyone with even a remote chance of being one of the six chosen will spend the next 24 hours looking at their phones and wondering about their fate. For a professional player the lack of control is a frustrating experience.
The phone call that awaits the players, whether to invite them to join the fun in Rome or condolences for a short time, produces emotions that are unique in a game that tries to remove the process from the result. And no matter the message, every call is memorable.
“The first one [team] I made a selection (the 2010 Ryder Cup) at Celtic [Manor] with [captain Corey Pavin]I remember that phone call, and the call was from [2019 Presidents Cup captain Tiger Woods] going down in Australia is also one of those I remember,” said Rickie Fowler before pausing to remember the “other” call. “In ’12, my back started bothering me all summer and I wasn’t playing very well and ultimately wasn’t in a position to make that team, so I was far enough out that I didn’t have to which is a phone call. “
There is some debate as to when a call is necessary. Johnson can certainly contact each of his six picks, but how far down the list does he dare to tell a player he won’t be on the team?
Most observers agree that Johnson’s picks will include Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Fowler and Justin Thomas, who are Nos. 7, 8, 13 and 15, respectively, on the final US points list. The last two choices are a combination of Nos. 9 Cameron Young, 10 Collin Morikawa, 11 Keegan Bradley, 12 Sam Burns and 16 Lucas Glover.
It is likely that all the players will hear from Johnson in the next 24 hours, but will the captain be forced to reach No. 14, Denny McCarthy, who had a career year in 2023 with seven top-10 finishes but didn’t win and failed to qualify for the Tour Championship?
It was a relief that as difficult as that phone call was for the captains, most players knew when they had to be selected.
“Jim Furyk called me and told me I was gone [2018] Paris team. He and I had a great conversation. Because when he called and told me I wasn’t, I was like, well, I know, I haven’t performed as well as I should have in trying to make this team. I understand. I should not have been selected,” said Brian Harman, who did not have to be called this year as one of the six automatic qualifiers. “I just explained to him and I asked, ‘Hey, what were you thinking when you were trying to make your first team,’ and we had a nice chat about that.
“Then Steve Stricker called and told me I didn’t do the [2017] Presidents Cup Team. I thought I had a better test take for that one. But Steve has always been my dear friend and I understand. I was never singled out and felt like I really deserved a place. “
Full-field scores from the Tour Championship
After seven consecutive appearances in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, Fowler knows the drill and even after a year that has changed that includes his first Tour victory in four seasons and his first traveling to East Lake since 2019, he knows the decision is out of his hands. .
“The position I’m in now, a middle of my career, not that I’m expecting a phone call saying I’m not going or someone saying I’m going, I feel like I’ve been part of teams and I understand if you don’t get the points and you get the call to go or not to go, it’s not hard feelings,” Fowler said. “I don’t. If you want to depend on yourself, fine you have to play to get it in points.”
Glover takes the same thoughtful approach to whatever comes on Monday. After a red-hot finish to the season that included back-to-back wins and top-10 finishes in five of his last eight starts, he acknowledged there was freedom coming into Sunday’s final round, no matter what. the phone call he received.
“It’s been a long time, 18 years [when 2006 Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman called to tell him he wouldn’t be one of his two picks],” said Glover. “I felt then that I had a better case than I do now, but I have no idea what they were thinking. As Ben Franklin said, ‘A good deed is a good thing said.'”