Scottie Scheffler Defends Brooks Koepka's Chances for a U.S Ryder Cup Team Captain's Pick

Scheffler was quick to explain why Koepka should absolutely get the nod from Zach Johnson.

Scottie Scheffler was one of the first players to be officially confirmed for the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team. Now he’s stepping up as one of the first to defend the standing of a potential teammate: Brooks Koepka.

On Wednesday at East Lake, ahead of this week’s Tour Championship, Scheffler was asked about the LIV golfer, who will now rely on one of Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks to punch his ticket to Rome.

The first six members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team were determined after last week’s BMW Championship through the Ryder Cup standings list. Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele are all officially confirmed.

The next step in shaping the 2023 American squad, however, is a bit more complicated. 

On Aug. 29, Johnson will make six selections to round out the U.S. team, and although the points list will help inform his decisions, it won’t define them.

After last week in Chicago, Homa and Schauffele both played their way into the top six, pushing Koepka to just outside of the automatic qualifying group at No. 7. 

But according to Scheffler, Koepka’s position in the rankings might as well be ignored completely. 

The LIV golfer is only 29 points behind Schauffele, who sits at No. 6, and he needed less than half as many tournaments to get to such a number. 

“Brooks? I mean, I looked at the points list the other night," Scheffler said. "He was about ... I think he was 30 points shy? Which is, I think it was the equivalent of like $30,000 throughout the year.

"If he played one tournament on Tour I think he probably would have been on the team." 

It didn’t take much calculating for the world No. 1 to prove his point: Koepka should absolutely be on the U.S. squad as they attempt to end a 30-year winless drought on European soil. 

Plus, taking a closer look at Scheffler’s math strengthens his answer even further. 

Because Koekpa joined LIV Golf back in June 2022, he was only able to play in 10 events that count towards the Ryder Cup standings. One of those tournaments was the 2023 PGA Championship, where he captured his fifth major title. Xander Schauffele, on the other hand, played in 26 qualifying events over the past two years.