Lucas Glover is Quickly Emerging as Dark-Horse Ryder Cup Contender

As if U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson didn’t have enough to worry about with Justin Thomas finishing out of the FedExCup playoffs and Brooks Koepka potentially falling out of an automatic qualifying position, enter the curious case of Lucas Glover.

A month ago, Glover was struggling and in danger of losing entry into several 2024 events because his two-year exemption for winning the 2021 John Deere Classic was about to run out. He was 167^th in FedExCup points after missing the cut at the Travelers Championship at the end of June.

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But starting with the Rocket Mortgage Classic the following week, Glover has five top-six finishes in his last six starts, including a win at the Wyndham Championship to get him into the FedExCup playoffs and a victory in the first round of the playoffs at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week in Memphis.

Lucas Glover has ONE round over 70 in his last 22 rounds.

Absolutely insane. @ForePlayPod pic.twitter.com/NoF1uR87FU

— Barstool Gambling (@stoolgambling) August 15, 2023

Now, the 43-year-old is fourth in FedExCup points and is 16^th in the rankings for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. If he somehow wins a third straight tournament at the BMW Championship this week, he’ll jump into the top six and automatically qualify for the team.

But a strong finish will put him in line with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young, and Collin Morikawa – golfers who haven’t won on the PGA Tour yet this year. He’s also nearly certain to pass Thomas in the standings, who won’t be playing in Chicago this week.

So, will Glover be going to Italy next month?

“Right now, yes,” Glover said, campaigning for himself: 

“[I’m] playing pretty good golf, and I think I’d be pretty good in the team room and be a good partner, so yeah, absolutely, I would.”

Glover has not made a Ryder Cup team in his career. The 2009 U.S. Open champ was a member of the President’s Cup team in both 2007 and ’09.

Lucas Glover on if he’s thought about the Ryder Cup. 👀 pic.twitter.com/S109A0fopz

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) August 14, 2023

This is the last week for players to accumulate Ryder Cup points.

The top-six after the BMW Championship will automatically qualify. Johnson will then select six Captain’s Picks after the following week’s Tour Championship.

Cover Photo via Twitter