U.S. Ryder Cup Team Reaction: European Star Not Surprised, Haney Says Picks Reaffirm ‘The Boys Club’

One day after U.S. Ryder Cup team captain Zach Johnson announced his six picks to round out the United States team in next month’s event, reaction to the moves continues to pour in.

Storylines going into the day yesterday would be whether Brooks Koepka would be invited onto the team despite playing on the rival LIV Golf circuit and if Justin Thomas would earn a spot on the team despite a subpar season by his standards.

Both received a yes from Johnson, leaving those like Keegan Bradley out.

Bradley won twice on the PGA Tour this year and finished ninth in the final FedEx Cup standings. His two wins were equal to the combined two that Koepka, Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, and Sam Burns put up this season.

That led Bradley to say yesterday that he would need to automatically qualify to get onto any future Ryder Cup teams.

Tiger Woods’ former swing coach, Hank Haney, agrees.

It didn’t matter who Zach Johnson picked the USA team will be heavily favored but those picks confirm it’s the Boys Club.

— Hank Haney (@HankHaney) August 29, 2023

Haney also said in a subsequent Tweet that Johnson wanted to select six PGA Tour players, but he couldn’t avoid leaving out Koepka, who won the PGA Championship and was runner-up at the Masters this year.

As for the European team, those captain’s picks won’t be decided until after the BMW PGA Championship in two weeks. Jon Rahm, who is one of the automatic qualifiers for that team, wasn’t surprised to see the U.S. team play out the way it did.

Our @jamescolgan26 got to share Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks with Jon Rahm today. pic.twitter.com/1IsmxDsTVI

— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) August 30, 2023

“I’m assuming Justin Thomas was picked and maybe that’s what people are trying to create a buzz about,” Rahm said. “I mean, there’s no surprises there. I would have been able to tell you 11. I’m not surprised Sam got picked, though. He’s been playing great the last few years, maybe not his best year but he did win the Match Play.”

Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, and Tyrrell Hatton have all secured their spot on the European team. The remaining two automatic qualifiers will be known after this week’s DP World Tour event.

Cover Image via Reuters