U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker will receive an additional two captain’s picks for the 2020 Ryder Cup. The change comes as a result of so many tournaments being canceled these past three months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
All U.S. players had the opportunity to earn points beginning in 2019, and those points will still be recognized in the selection process. It’s just that six of the 12 players on the team will now be selected using the points system instead of eight players, as had previously been the case.
Potential U.S. team members will accrue points through the second FedEx Cup Playoff event (the BMW Championship), which concludes on Aug. 30.
The remaining six players that make up the Ryder Cup team will be selected and announced by Stricker in early September, ahead of the Sept. 22-27 event at Whistling Straights in Kohler, Wisconsin. Previously, the U.S. captain was only able to select four players.
“With all the various changes to the 2020 schedule, it quickly became apparent that we would need to amend our selection criteria,” said Stricker, who will be captaining in his home state of Wisconsin. “After many deliberate discussions, we collectively agreed that a smaller sampling of 2020 events — including just one major championship — would justify a one-week extension of the qualification window and an increase in the number of Captain’s selections from four to six. These changes were sparked by circumstance but conceived with integrity in mind. In the end, we believe they will allow us to put our best team together to compete at Whistling Straits in September.”
This change also assumes all schedule events – including the 2020 Ryder Cup itself – take place as currently planned.
A total of 11 events have been canceled since the pandemic took hold in mid-March. The Tour is back in action this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, but without fans.
There has been much talk about what an absence of fans – or even a limited fan presence – would do to the typically raucous Ryder Cup atmosphere. Those details remain under discussion.
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