Zach Johnson should have picked Bryson DeChambeau for the Ryder Cup – here’s why…
Only one LIV golfer made the US Ryder Cup team, but in Matt Coles’ opinion, one more man from Greg Norman’s roster should be heading to Rome
Different. Particular. The ‘Scientist’ is one of the more unique characters in the game of golf.
That right there is why I think Bryson DeChambeau should be on the plane to Italy.
Yes, DeChambeau moving to LIV Golf definitely made it more difficult for Zach Johnson to make him a Ryder Cup pick.
But the 2020 US Open champion has certainly done enough to have warranted a selection for this year’s Ryder Cup at Marco Simone.
Why did Johnson make those six picks?
Let’s look at the make-up of the US team first. We knew the original six who automatically qualified.
Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele all were deserving of their place on the team.
As were four of the captain’s picks. Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa are all in, with Brooks Koepka, the PGA Championship winner, being the only member of LIV Golf to be featuring.
READ MORE: Zach Johnson announces his six picks for the Ryder Cup
From there, two spots seemed open between six or seven candidates.
In the end, Justin Thomas and Sam Burns were the two to make the grade.
I admit, JT’s match play record is stunning. A 16-5-3 record across 24 matches in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup almost guarantees you a place in the team despite the poor recent form.
Sam Burns won the WGC Match Play earlier this year, beating Cameron Young in the final. That could arguably be the difference between those two. Burns is also good friends with Scottie Scheffler, and the World No .1 may have had some say in his selection.
Either way it doesn’t matter. For me, Burns is not better than DeChambeau, and more importantly, the Europeans will not feel threatened by Burns like they might with the power of Bryson.
Why should Bryson DeChambeau have been picked?
61-58. That is all.
Did you see what DeChambeau did to the Greenbrier a few weeks back? A 61 tied the lowest round in LIV Golf’s history (albeit short).
To then go out the next day and go three shots lower is one thing. To finish with a 58 is another!
He became just the fourth man in the history of professional golf to shoot a 58 in a top-tier tournament, following in the footsteps of Ryo Ishikawa, Jim Furyk and Kim Seong-hyeon.
DeChambeau would also have been a sure-fire playing partner for the other LIV representative, Brooks Koepka.
Yes, we know that these two have had their feuds in the past, but that seems to be done with now, and the pair are friends once more.
Let alone that, but DeChambeau is a figure that the Americans get behind during the Ryder Cup.
Look at 2021 at Whistling Straits. When that drive off the first tee found the green, the crowd went bonkers.
He then had the amazing 420+ yard drive on the par-5 which left him with a wedge in, while his playing partners were all more than 200 yards away.
DeChambeau has that special something that differs from the rest of the American team . It isn’t something you can easily put your finger on.
It’s that threat that he can do something out of the ordinary at any given moment.
It’s that threat the Europeans would not want to go up against, and now they won’t have to. That could be a big relief for Luke Donald and Team Europe.
Who else has missed out?
Cameron Young and Keegan Bradley are the two men that can also feel aggrieved to have missed out on a place in Rome.
Bradley finished above Burns, Fowler and Thomas in the final Ryder Cup standings for Team USA.
He had two wins in the 2022-2023 season, winning the ZOZO Championship in Japan and the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands.
Meanwhile, Cameron Young ended the season in 9th on the Ryder Cup standings. Only Koepka and Spieth finished above Young in the final reckoning.
Add to that the fact that Vice Captain Fred Couples basically said that Young would be making the trip to Rome.
Other big names will not feature. Both Will Zalatoris and Daniel Berger have been sidelined through injury and would have been in with a shout had they been fit.
Meanwhile, Talor Gooch has been in good form on the LIV Golf tour, becoming the first man to win three events. He and Tony Finau are among the other big names to have missed out on a place.
Do you think Zach Johnson should’ve opted for a Bryson DeChambeau Ryder Cup pick? Who would you have selected if you had those six picks? Let us know with a Tweet!
Matt Coles
Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…
Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.
He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.
Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…
Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.
