Ryder Cup Qualifiers Will Pick Wild Cards

BY ESPN

Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III will turn to his eight automatic qualifiers for advice on his wild cards as the United States seek to avoid an unprecedented fourth straight defeat at Hazeltine.

Patrick Reed's victory in the first FedEx Cup playoff event on Sunday secured his place on the team alongside Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Jimmy Walker, Brooks Koepka, Brandt Snedeker and Zach Johnson.

And those players will now have a major say in who joins them on the plane to Minnesota, mirroring the approach taken by the last victorious US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger in 2008.

"It's time for these eight to take ownership of this team and help us pick four more," said 2012 skipper Love, who will name three wild cards on Sep. 12 and his final one after the Tour Championship in Atlanta, just five days before the 41st Ryder Cup starts.

"We've talked a lot to the guys that played for Paul and in fact I was helping my son clean out his truck the other day and I found Paul Azinger's book in his truck.

"Paul has been a great help. He was successful. There's guys that played for him like Phil Mickelson that know what went on. In 2012 I went down the list with everybody that made it on points and said, 'What do you think? Who do you like? Who do you think you would pair well with?

"Golf is different than other sports. [The] mental side of it is huge. If they go in there believing in what we are telling them, that they have the best team, and that they are ready to go, then they are going to play well. We don't want to start off with any question marks.

"It's their team. If Patrick Reed says I want you to pick this guy and we won't lose a match, we're going to take that into account."