Ryder Cup: How Davis Love and His Team Made Their Picks

Davis Love III relied on familiarity and trust when making his Ryder Cup captain’s picks.

Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III revealed three of his four captain’s picks on Monday: Rickie Fowler, J.B. Holmes and Matt Kuchar. While many analysts had opinions on who should make the team, the final decision actually came down to comfort level and trust. In other words, if you are going out to “fight the enemy,” who do you believe will have your back and help the entire team most? The captain explained his process at two press conferences, one televised and one not.

Love, the assistant captains and the first eight members of the team all had input into the three picks, and they did not necessarily go for the best players available. The decision was based on who would partner best with the eight automatic qualifiers for Team USA.

“If my team needed a quarterback and I drafted a running back, I would be in big trouble,” Love explained. “We had a great system for that in 2012 that I took a lot from, Tom Kite and Lanny Wadkins, guys I played for, but also from Paul Azinger. We looked at a lot of factors making the picks, and we made sure that we fit in, not necessarily the guy with the best putting stat, or the longest driver, or the highest-ranked points. So a lot went into it, a lot of factors.”

More from Pro Golf Now

It was not an easy or quick choice.

“There were questions late as last night,” Love revealed.

He had Steve Stricker calling in on a sat phone and was with Jim Furyk and Tom Lehman. They all had Tiger Woods on speaker.

“We went through a lot of scenarios. We talked about a lot of great players. It was a very, very tough decision. But we kept coming back to these three for now,” Love explained. “I had to caution even the guys in the room: Hey, we have another pick in two weeks. Let’s think — let’s use our heads a little bit here.”

They used 3×5” cards and moved team members around with potential additions.

The drama towards the end of the BMW Championship, much of which involved Holmes and Fowler, didn’t factor into their picks, although they did watch the tournament to the end. Once it was over, Love called and texted the picks to some of the team members, asking them to not reveal anything.

“We were really close two weeks ago to this, but it took us until last night to finish it off,” Love added. “This is a tough decision. There were many great choices. I know this is the 11 we want today, and we have another tough decision coming up in two weeks, but we are really excited about where we are today, and we’re excited to hear from these guys. I know they were excited last night.”

Where were they when they got the news?

More from Ryder Cup

“We were just about to land back in Florida,” Fowler said. “Had to make him wait for a few minutes, slow plane, but once I got in the car, we were able to get on phone and made the day a lot better after just missing East Lake. Pretty excited to be going to Chaska in a couple weeks.”

Fowler was decked out in Team USA garb, and his enthusiasm was full bore. It will be his third Ryder Cup.

“It’s really cool getting to play on home soil,” he explained. “The Ryder Cup is a whole different animal, and I’m looking forward to that opportunity.”

He played in 2010 in Wales and in 2014 in Scotland. Fowler is familiar with Hazeltine because he played the U.S. Amateur there in 2006.

“It’s going to be pretty amazing getting to play in front of a home crowd, it will be a completely different feeling for sure,” he said.

Holmes’ most iconic Ryder Cup moment may have been when he asked for a tree limb to be removed on the 16th hole at Vahalla in 2008. It was in the way of his drive. What Holmes wanted, he got.

“J.B., he’s so steady, he’s easy to pair,” Love said. “Got a lot of experience. He’s consistent, and he’s been on a winning Ryder Cup team before in the past.”

“Any time you can get to play in your home country and you know the fans are going to be behind you, it’s just a very awesome experience,” Holmes said about being chosen. “It’s been one of my main goals all year to get on this team, and to get that call from Davis was just a very exciting moment. Some of my greatest memories in golf were at the Ryder Cup at Valhalla. So just really excited to get back in the Ryder Cup format and get out there and play.”

Matt Kuchar, who was the bronze medalist in the recent Olympics, said, “When that phone call did come last night, I was on board a NetJets flight with my wife and kids and Zach Johnson, and Zach had a sneaky smirk on his face when the call came in. It was a very exciting moment.”

Kuchar’s biggest challenge today was figuring out how to get on Skype for the press conference call, but he managed it.

“I really am thrilled to be part of this,” Kuchar added. “I was part of that team at Medinah. Davis Love, he’s like a brother, like an uncle down here. We love him so much. We have so much respect for him. For me to make this team, I can’t wait to make amends and try to bring the Cup home.”

According to Love, all the assistant captains had valuable input. Tiger Woods was helpful from a big picture point-of-view.

“His strategy on the golf course, I think that’s where a year ago, if you’d asked me that question, his helping us prepare for a major championship, which, this is a big golf tournament, helping us think about the golf course,” Love explained. “Everybody just automatically thinks, just look at the scorecard, it’s a really long course, we need long hitters. Tiger looks at it a whole lot differently than that. Tiger over the last two or three weeks has made us really think hard about not only pairings but other things that we need to look for in our players. He’s taken the stats package that we get and breaking it down to what we really need.”

Love will make his final captain’s pick after the Tour Championship. He would not be pinned down as to how many players remain on his shortlist. When asked if it was a group he could count on one hand or on two hands, he said, “Yes. I’m not limiting myself for sure.”

But a few questions later he slipped up and said, “We’re going to make four guys happy and eight or ten unhappy.” So his shortlist is probably between four and six players.

However, one important wrinkle in the final pick is that the three new team members, Fowler, Holmes and Kuchar, will also have input as to who that person should be. When it comes down to that last pick, the will of the team as a whole, the compatibility of the golfers, the strategies for playing the golf course and the potential pairings will likely outweigh any finish at the Tour Championship.

Next: Web.com Tour Finals: Boise Open Power Rankings

What do you think of Davis Love’s Ryder Cup picks? Let us know in the comments, and keep it here at Pro Golf Now for more Ryder Cup updates.

Home/Ryder Cup