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Mark Schlabach
U.S. Open winner J.J. Spaun and two-time major champion Xander Schauffele will join world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler on the U.S. team when it takes on Europe in next month’s Ryder Cup.
Spaun moved to No. 2 in the U.S. team points standings and qualified for the team with his third runner-up finish of the season in Sunday’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee. He will be a Ryder Cup rookie.
Spaun, ranked eighth in the Official World Golf Ranking, lost to England’s Justin Rose on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff at TPC Southwind in the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
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Rose and England’s Tommy Fleetwood have secured enough points to join Masters champion Rory McIlroy on the European team.
Spaun, 34, captured his first major championship when he made a 64½-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club on June 15.
Schauffele won his first two majors at the PGA Championship and Open Championship in 2024, then was slowed because of a painful rib injury at the start of this season. He hasn’t won this year and has three top 10s and nine top 25s in 14 starts on tour.
Schauffele, ranked third in the world, will make his third consecutive appearance in the Ryder Cup. He has a 4-4-0 record in the event, including a 1-3 mark in the U.S. team’s 16 ½ – 11 ½ loss to the Europeans at Marco Simone Golf Club outside Rome in 2023.
The golfers ranked fourth to sixth in the U.S. points standings after this week’s BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, also will automatically qualify for the team.
Russell Henley, LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English are in the top six in points.
U.S. team captain Keegan Bradley will make six captain’s choices Aug. 27, three days after the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Justin Thomas is seventh in points, followed by Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Bradley, Maverick McNealy and Andrew Novak.
Brian Harman (13th), Cameron Young (14th), Patrick Cantlay (15th), Sam Burns (16th) and others are probably in the mix for roster spots as well.
The top six golfers in the European team’s points standings Aug. 24 will qualify for the team. McIlroy, Rose and Fleetwood have secured qualification on points, and Robert MacIntyre, Tyrrell Hatton and Sepp Straka round out the current top six.
Shane Lowry, Rasmus Højgaard, Ludvig Åberg and Viktor Hovland round out the top 10 and seem in good shape to be captain’s picks if they don’t earn one of the automatic berths.
LIV Golf League captain Jon Rahm is 22nd and will make the team, meaning Matt Wallace, Matt Fitzpatrick, Thomas Detry and Aaron Rai might be battling for one or two spots.
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