When Davis Love III unveiled his big reveal Monday — announcing three of his four captain’s picks for the U.S. Ryder Cup team that he hopes will put an end to the embarrassing European domination in less than three weeks at Hazeltine — there was a glaring omission.
The No. 7-ranked player in the world and one of the game’s most dynamic shot makers, Bubba Watson, is not one of Love’s first 11.
So Watson, a two-time Masters winner and one of the longest bombers in the game, remains twisting in the wind, hoping to score Love’s fourth and final captain’s pick, which will come Sept. 25 after the Tour Championship.
Watson, who finished ninth in the final Ryder Cup points standings (one spot short of landing one of the eight automatic bids), was overlooked (for the moment) by Love for Rickie Fowler, who has struggled this year, J.B. Holmes and Matt Kuchar.
A good argument can be made for each of those three picks being a part of the U.S. team, which has lost eight of the last 10 Ryder Cups, including the last three. But it’s difficult to imagine Watson not being on the team.
Love’s selections of Fowler, Kuchar and Holmes smacked of the safe, inside-the-box, good-old-boys-network play.
Holmes finished 10th on the points list, Fowler 11th and Kuchar 12th. All three have Ryder Cup experience and will join the team of the eight automatic qualifiers that includes only one rookie, Brooks Koepka.
The other seven automatic qualifiers are Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Jimmy Walker, Brandt Snedeker and Zach Johnson.
Watson, who rubs some people the wrong way with his quirky, sometimes abrasive personality, is not a part of that good-old-boys network. He’s more of an outsider by comparison to the three players Love chose Monday.
An obvious negative mark against Watson is his lack of form this season and his poor Ryder Cup record. He does not have a single top-10 on the PGA since March and has a 3-8 career record in the Ryder Cup, including 0-3 in singles (he’s 0-4-1 in singles, including the Presidents Cup).
But the same demerits can be used against Fowler, Holmes and Kuchar.
Fowler, for example, has struggled this year and has an 0-3-5 record in his two Ryder Cups.
Holmes had two top-five finishes in majors this year, but had a poor five-tournament stretch after that, though he did tie for fourth Sunday at the BMW Championship to qualify for the Tour Championship.
Kuchar is ranked 17th in the world, he tied for fourth at the BMW Championship and won the bronze medal in the Olympics. But he has never won a major championship and he’s been on the last three U.S. Ryder Cup teams that lost, compiling a pedestrian 4-5-2 record.
You can find warts on virtually any player, so this is not to denigrate Fowler, Kuchar or Holmes. All have big upsides as well. But a Watson omission could backfire if he’s not the 12th and final player added to the team.
“We’re a sports team and we have to draft the right player for the right position,’’ Love said. “There’s going to be a lot of stats and a lot of things to look at, but making our pairings, fitting in with the team, doing all the little things that you asked to do … these three guys [Fowler, Kuchar and Holmes] filled incredible roles, a lot of different roles.
“These guys added a lot statistically, emotionally, leadership, for a lot of reasons, and so the next guy is going to have to step up and fill a role as well. All those things we’ve got to talk about and that’s going to help us decide who the 12th guy is.’’