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The United States Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III named Steve Stricker,
Dustin Johnson, Brand Snedeker and Jim Furyk as his final four picks as
part of the side to face Europe in Medinah later this month.
Johnson and Snedeker showed superb recent form in the both FedEx Cup
playoff events so far, finishing among the top six in consecutive
tournaments.
"I think we're extremely deep this time, deeper than we've ever been.
... There was a lot of guys that played a lot of really good golf," Love
said. "You can analyze the numbers up and down and back and forth. It
was tough to leave really anybody off."
The Ryder Cup is due to take place on Sept. 28-30 at Medinah outside
Chicago, since 1995 Europe has dominated the competition but have
struggled on U.S. soil, winning it only twice in the last 20 years.
Slight favorites, the U.S. have 10 players from the top 20 in the
makeup of their team, but one of them, Hunter Mahan, was left out. Mahan
is currently ranked at No19 in the world, but Love was insistent on the
inclusion of both Furyk and Stricker whom he has consulted heavily on
all things Ryder, including his four captain's picks.
"I laid it out early on what I thought we needed and we stuck with it,"
Love said. "I need Jim Furyk. I need Steve Stricker. The team will
benefit from those guys being in the locker room, being in the team
room.
Then, you can't argue with the golf that Brandt and Dustin have been
playing. I think they matched up well, and it really did kind of lay
right out there for us."
"It was not really the numbers but how guys were putting and playing," Love said.
"There were some guys feeling pressure to make the team. Really, since
the British and the PGA, a couple of guys have stepped up and really
handled that pressure well. That was a big factor, as well."
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