RYDER CuP TEAMS TAKE SHAPE AS COUNTDOWN TO PARIS MOVES INTO FULL SWING

United States Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk has confirmed the first eight members of his team for the 2018 matches, which get under way in Paris on September 28.

Following the completion of the US PGA Championship, the automatic qualifiers were Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka.

Furyk said: “We have eight players who love to compete. I also know the team we are going up against in Europe is very strong. If you look at the world rankings from both sides it is really even in the top 20.”

“When you look at these matches, it has been very lopsided to the home side, so I’m very excited about my team and confident in these eight players, but every one of them knows the task ahead of us they know it is going to be tough.”

Furyk will name his first three wildcards after the Dell Technologies Championship, which concludes on September 3, and he will complete his line-up with one more captain’s pick the following week.

Tiger Woods is heavily tipped to be one of Jim Fury's four wildcard picks
Tiger Woods is being heavily tipped to be one of Jim Furyk’s four wildcard picks

Tiger Woods, who finished second to Koepka at the PGA Championship is currently being offered at odds of 1/33 by bookmakers of being one of the four picks, which means he looks a near certainty to become the first playing vice-captain in the history of the Ryder Cup. Others players potentially in line for a pick include Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner.

The European team won’t be announced until September 2, following the conclusion of the Made in Denmark Tournament. Francesco Molinari  currently tops the European points list ahead of Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood. Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren, Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm are currently the four automatic qualifiers from the world points list.

There are now just three European Tour events left from which to earn Ryder Cup points, starting with this week’s Nordea Masters, the following week’s D+D REAL Czech Masters in Prague, and then the Made in Denmark tournament.

Like Furyk, European captain Thomas Bjørn has four wildcards to select to join his team at Le Golf National in September.