Stricker’s bogey on No. 7
Sunday might have cost him a
berth on the Ryder Cup team.
Ryder Cup’s elite eight named
By John antonini
ultimately, Steve Stricker’s automatic berth on the U.S. Ryder Cup team was undone by his bogey 6 on the par- 5
seventh hole Sunday. Then again, maybe it was his bogey 4 on the par- 3 fifth
hole Friday. Or his bogey 5 on the par- 4
15th Thursday. Whatever day, whatever
hole configuration, Stricker missed a
spot on the team by one stroke. His T- 7
finish at Kiawah Island’s Ocean course
earned him $226,000 and 452 Ryder
Cup points. That left him 218.039 points
(about $110,000) behind Phil Mickelson for the eighth and final qualifying
spot on Davis Love III’s team. Players
earned two Ryder Cup points for every
$1,000 earned at the PGA.
Bo Van Pelt’s story was similar, yet
not as cruel. The 37-year-old Oklahoma resident, who has never played
on a Ryder or Presidents Cup team,
missed his mark by 1,080.793 points
(about $540,500). Van Pelt finished
T- 18 at the PGA at one-under 287.
Four fewer strokes and a tie for second would have earned him enough
points to play at Medinah CC outside
Chicago, Sept. 28-30.
Tiger Woods led the eight automatic qualifiers, followed by Bubba
Watson, Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson,
Matt Kuchar and Mickelson. Dufner,
Bradley and Simpson will be making
their first appearances on the team.
Hunter Mahan finished ninth, followed by Stricker, Jim Furyk, Rickie
Fowler, Brandt Snedeker and Van
Pelt. Love makes his four captain’s
selections Sept. 4, one day after the
Monday finish of the Deutsche Bank
Championship outside Boston.
“If you go right down the list
through 20, we have a great group of
guys to pick from,” said Love. “No-
body’s out of it. There’s a lot of golf to
be played.”
But the reality is that a few players
are a little more “in it” than others.
“Jim, Steve and Hunter have all
been there,” said Love, who per-
haps tipped his hand a bit without
acknowledging the trio are certain-
