24 players will tee it up in the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, but how did they qualify?
How To Qualify For The Ryder Cup
The 43rd Ryder Cup takes place at Whistling Straits where Europe will be defending the trophy after beating USA 17.5-10.5 at Le Golf National in 2o18.
Both Team Europe and Team USA each have 12 players, but how did they qualify?
How To Qualify For The Ryder Cup
Each side consists of 12 players, but has two different qualifying formats. Due to a Covid-hit 18 months, team Europe will be made up of nine automatic qualifiers and three wildcard picks, whilst USA will have six automatic qualifiers and six wildcard picks.
How to qualify for the European Ryder Cup team
Firstly, to qualify for the European Ryder Cup team, you must be a member of the European Tour. That’s because the European Tour run the European side of things, whilst the PGA of America organise things across the pond.
You may remember that Paul Casey re-joined the European Tour for 2018 in a bid to qualify for the side. He was previously unavailable for the 2016 and 2014 matches due to the fact that he only carried a PGA Tour card.
The European automatic qualifiers are made up of four from of the European Points List, and five from the World Points List.
Qualifying concludes at the BMW PGA Championship on the 9th-12th September, with European Points being earned via the Race to Dubai, which offers points in all European Tour events as well as the four majors and four WGCs.
The World Points list works where points are earned from Official World Golf Ranking points which are on offer at all events including on the PGA Tour.
In the European points, it was Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Bernd Wiesberger who qualified for the team, with Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Paul Casey, Matt Fitzpatrick and Lee Westwood the World points qualifiers.
For this year, the remaining three places are reserved for wildcard picks from captain, Padraig Harrington, with Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Shane Lowry the trio to be chosen by Harrington.
How to qualify for the USA Ryder Cup team
The USA Ryder Cup team qualification process is much simpler because all of their players play on the PGA Tour, as opposed to Europe where most of the team is competing on both sides of the Atlantic.
Due to Covid, here is how the USA points are earned:
2019 Major Championships
- 1 Point per $1,000 earned
- The Masters, PGA Championship, US Open & The Open
2019 WGC Events and The Players Championship
- 1 Point per $2,000 earned
2020 Regular PGA Tour events
- 1 point per $1,000 earned
- Beginning 1st January 2020, through till the Mayakoba Golf Classic 3rd – 6th December.
2020 Major Championships
- 2 Points per $1,000 earned for the Winner
- 1.5 Points per $1,000 earned for all others to make the cut
- PGA Championship, US Open, Masters
2021 Regular PGA Tour events
- 1.5 Points per $1,000 earned
- Beginning 10th January 2021 through till the end of the second FedEx Cup Playoff (BMW Championship); including The Players Championship and WGC events
2021 Major Championships
- 2 Points per $1,000 earned for all others to make the cut
- Masters, PGA Championship, US Open, Open Championship
The top USA qualifiers are (in order): Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay.
Captain, Steve Stricker, then chose Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Daniel Berger, Harris English, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler as his six wildcard picks; with Patrick Reed the biggest player missing out on a place.
The Ryder Cup takes place between Friday 24th September – Sunday 26th September.
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