The considerations that decide Ryder Cup captains’ picks are as varied as the skippers making the calls, though no previous leader of Team USA ever had to check if potential picks are forcing other members of the squad to incur legal bills by fronting speculative litigation financed by a Middle Eastern despot. Such is the job Zach Johnson signed on for as he attempts to end America’s 30-year losing streak on foreign soil in September.
The only LIV players likely to factor in discussions about captains picks are Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, neither of whom was a plaintiff in LIV’s antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour nor even offered salty back chat about their former tour or colleagues (Patrick Reed could win the next three majors and still not be invited for a uniform fitting for fear he might sue the seamstress). That removes one possible impediment to a LIV golfer being chosen for the matches in Rome, but there are others.
Captain Johnson met with the media Wednesday at Oak Hill Country Club, where he’s competing in the 105th PGA Championship, and the attributes he stressed for his team did not seem at all random: camaraderie and chemistry. Those are freighted words these days, and cut to the core of the dilemma with including LIV players in the Ryder Cup.
Both Koepka and Johnson (D) are popular among their peers and would not be thought likely to impair the vibe in the team room (notwithstanding Koepka’s spat with the pseudo-scientist two years ago at Whistling Straits).
That resolves the practical considerations around chemistry and camaraderie. Now, about the philosophical angle …
The U.S. team in last year’s Presidents Cup was an impregnably tight-knit group, finally shorn of the jerk contingent that had roiled the back room for years. That’s what the task force was intended to create when it was formed almost a decade ago, after another of Phil Mickelson’s periodic rogue efforts to overthrow whatever powers that be. The task force goal was to establish consistency — in approach, in leadership, in commitment, in preparedness — and eliminate division and rancor.
Zach Johnson has been part of that process and remains surrounded by a trusted star chamber of previous captains, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker. How likely is he to venture off the path they paved to gamble on a couple of LIV guys? When pressed on whether he might spend one (or more) of his six picks thus, the skipper bobbed and weaved like a prize fighter.
“I was talking about that just the other day with some of my vice captains. We’re at a point right now where it’s not even a discussion item,” he said. “There’s maybe a couple guys that have come close to securing their spot in the top six, but when it comes to picks, it’s not even on my radar. I think it would be premature and almost irresponsible to even go into that. It’s not on my radar right now.”
“It’s totally on his radar,” another former captain said disbelievingly upon hearing that comment. “It’s only three months away. He probably has a list of 20 guys he’s monitoring.”
Z was asked if his namesake, D, would be considered among the twelve best Americans now, fresh off his win on the LIV circuit, though almost three years removed from his last victory against a deep, elite field at the 2020 Masters.
“Really difficult for me to judge that. Again, I don’t know the golf courses they’re playing. Never seen them. I’m not there on foot in person,” he said. “You’re talking about an individual whose resume is extremely deep and wide. He’s certainly in my generation one of the best players I’ve ever competed against, but it’s not fair for me to guess his true form or anybody’s true form that I can’t witness.”
To be fair, Captain Johnson’s inability to bear witness might have happened because the CW affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, cut away before the conclusion of DJ’s win at the weekend.
So what then of Koepka?
“I haven’t really seen where he’s at since Augusta. He played really good that one week, but it’s one week. There’s still a lot of golf between now and then,” Johnson replied, sounding like a high school quarterback unwilling to commit to a prom date until it’s time to zip up the dress.
The LIV question will shadow Johnson until Rome in a way that it won’t with his counterpart, Luke Donald. Europe lost a generation of future leaders to LIV, but no locks as future players. And while most European defectors have or will resign their tour membership rather than pay enormous disciplinary fines, thereby removing themselves from Ryder Cup participation, selecting LIV players remains an option for Johnson.
Yet it’s not a decision he will make out of desperation. His roster is an embarrassment of riches. Consider that Tony Finau has won four times in the last 10 months and even he is well outside the top six guaranteed slots, and that the most likely rookies on his team — Max Homa, Sam Burns and Cameron Young — are all top 15 in the world ranking. That impressive slate from which Johnson must choose is also a valid excuse should he choose to stiff-arm guys who come with a little extra baggage.
Depending on how Johnson (D) and Koepka perform in the coming months—in majors and whatever LIV broadcasts air in Iowa—there may come a time when Johnson (Z) wants them on his team for the Ryder Cup. But there won’t be a time when he needs them on it.
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