Rickie Fowler Clinches U.S. Ryder Cup Team Spot Following the PGA Championship

Rickie Fowler put himself in a good position to challenge 54-hole leader Brooks Koepka on Sunday at the PGA Championship. Unfortunately, Fowler couldn’t get putts to roll in like he did in the first three rounds, finishing the major championship T-12.

It was discovered in the middle of the tournament that Fowler had a slight oblique strain which may have played a small factor in Sunday’s final round. Although Fowler never said it had escalated to a point where he couldn’t play.

Even though Fowler did not capture a win in golf’s regular season, he did have the second-best scoring average of his career in 2018 (69.97) — his best was in 2017 when he averaged 69.09 strokes per round.

Fowler will end this regular season on a high note as he was selected to be a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He was among the Top-8 players who accumulated the most Ryder Cup points this season.

This will be the third time in his career that Fowler has represented the U.S. in the Ryder Cup. Fowler golfed as an Olympian for the U.S. in 2016 and was part of the 2015 and 2017 Presidents Cup teams.

With the conclusion of the PGA Championship the first eight members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team will be:

Brooks Koepka

Dustin Johnson

Justin Thomas

Patrick Reed

Bubba Watson

Jordan Spieth

Rickie Fowler

Webb Simpson

Team captain Jim Furyk will be selected the final four players to be added to the Ryder Cup roster. And one has to imagine that assistant captain, Tiger Woods, should definitely be considered after his vintage final round of the PGA Championship — finishing solo-second to Koepka.

“I’m very pleased with what I’ve done so far and now to be a part of the Ryder Cup conversation, going from where I’ve come from to now in the last year, it’s been pretty cool,” Woods said after Sunday’s final round.

If Woods is selected as a captain’s pick, it will mark the first time he has competed in a Ryder Cup since the Fall of 2012.