Ryder Cup: The biggest snubs from the U.S. and European rosters

At 40 years of age, Matt Kuchar might be on the back nine of his solid career, but he is still playing at a high enough level to garner consideration for a Ryder Cup bid. Kuchar should have been in the running for a veteran selection for one of the four captain’s picks based off of his past experience in the event. He also finished in thirteenth place in the Ryder Cup points standings for the American side before automatic qualifying ended.

Kuchar has played decent this season, but his play has been a tad below his normal performance. He has had four top ten finishes on tour this season, including a ninth place finish at this year’s British Open. However that was by far his highest finish in a major this season, and he even missed the cut in the final two majors of the year.

Experience was definitely his number one attribute he could have added to the team. He has played in four Ryder Cups in his career and he was a part of team USA’s victory at Hazeltine in 2016.

He has played in a ton of Ryder Cup matches, and his overall record at the event is somewhat average but it is better than some of the players that are on the roster like Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler. His overall record is 6-7-2, and he has only won one of four singles matches during that stretch.

If both Tiger and Phil were not selected as two of the four captain’s picks, then it would have made more sense to add an older veteran player like Kuchar to the team. But with two more experienced Ryder Cup players like them already selected, it was a better call to go with younger players with more upside like DeChambeau and Finau over Kuchar.

He has been a Ryder Cup and President’s Cup automatic qualifier 6 times and he even won the bronze medal for team USA in the 2016 Rio Olympic games. Clearly he is no stranger to representing his country on golf’s biggest stages, so he was definitely in consideration to be the final pick on this year’s squad.