‘My List Goes Pretty Deep’: Ryder Cup Captain Zach Johnson Pondering Many Players for Final Six Spots

In an interview Monday with Sports Illustrated, Johnson said he’s still considering some 20 players with one week to go before setting his team.

The first six members of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team were set Sunday night after the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields, outside of Chicago.

U.S. captain Zach Johnson took little time after the final putt dropped to reach out to the four that locked their spots: Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman and Max Homa.

Johnson said the calls were a bit chaotic, with players getting on planes or driving to the airport, but the captain wanted to reach out, congratulate them and have them understand this is their team.

Since he already talked to Scottie Scheffler and Wyndham Clark last week at dinner in Memphis last week—after they were confirmed to have locked down their spots—Johnson had accomplished his one goal, to be as transparent as possible.

However, in an interview Monday with Sports Illustrated, he said those conversations with his top six didn’t include any names that could be potential captain’s picks.

Instead, he asked all six to think about who they would like to see on the team and talk amongst themselves, with further discussion to take place Wednesday at a dinner in Atlanta that would include the players, Johnson and vice captains Stewart Cink and Davis Love III.

While Johnson calls his approach one of transparency, it could also be considered methodical.

Last Thursday, Johnson had a Zoom call with his vice captains and had another scheduled for Monday night.

He said there are roughly 20 potential candidates for the last six spots, none set in stone. He believes they are playing well, calling them “a pool of immense talent” but still using his words carefully when describing the potential picks and what he’s looking for.

His elements include “horses for courses,” a little or a lot of experience, team chemistry, current form and the feeling of the six locked-in players, the vice captains and of course Johnson himself.

In the end, Johnson calls the process a “big huge Crockpot.”

“My list goes pretty deep,” Johnson says. “Still golf to be played, we are leaving no stone unturned.”

When asked about players still playing versus those not, Johnson would not talk about what that means in the big picture.

Of the six players currently on the team, three are rookies (Clark, Harman and Homa), which may or may not make a difference in who Johnson ultimately picks.

At the end of the 19–9 drubbing of the Europeans at Whistling Straits, the U.S. team made a point on the course and then off the course for all 12 players to gather back together in Rome in two years and do it again.

That wish won’t come true, as some players aren’t playing up to Ryder Cup caliber, and others have jumped to LIV, making the entire process murky.

The players that are in Atlanta for this week’s Tour Championship that were on the 2021 Ryder Cup team and needing a pick to be on the ’23 team are Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau and Jordan Spieth.

Then add in the wild card of PGA champion Brooks Koepka, who after winning the second major of the year at Oak Hill spent the summer in the top six of the standings until last week when he fell to seventh.

In any other year Koepka would be a lock, but the LIV issue brings its own baggage, regardless of the “framework agreement” with the PGA Tour.

Johnson also must deal with the questionable play of Justin Thomas, 15th in the Ryder Cup standings, who missed the playoffs and has fallen to 26th in the world rankings (50th in the SI World Golf Rankings).

On the bright side, Lucas Glover and Rickie Fowler have shown solid form down the stretch, both making the top 30 in Atlanta and in the case of Glover, winning in consecutive weeks with a putter that has been a difference-maker.

It’s a lot for Johnson to calculate before he makes his picks next Tuesday, but all along he has said he wanted the players to make the decision hard on him. They seem to have acquiesced to his wishes.

“So much is about where my feet are,” Johnson says, explaining he wants to be levelheaded. “I don’t mind that; I can’t wait for my 12 guys to be set.”