U.S. Ryder Cup update: Brian Harman to third; Is Brooks Koepka top-6 spot safe?

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Moments after Brian Harman finished off a dominating, six-shot victory at The Open, he was asked about what his first major title just did for his chances of making his first U.S. Ryder Cup team.

“I’m going to kick that can down the road a little bit,” Harman responded. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

Of course, Harman has nothing to worry about. The 36-year-old former two-time Walker Cupper jumped to No. 3 in U.S. Ryder Cup points on Sunday evening to all but lock up his place on U.S. captain Zach Johnson’s 12-man squad that will compete Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Rome.

Ahead of Harman are two more near-locks, Scottie Scheffler and recent U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who also is expected to make his Ryder Cup debut next month.

Behind Harman is where things get more interesting.

At No. 4 is Brooks Koepka, the reigning PGA champ who was T-2 at this year’s Masters but as a LIV Golf member is done earning Ryder Cup points this go-round. Koepka has about a 750-point edge on No. 5 Xander Schauffele, almost a 1,000-point cushion on No. 6 Patrick Cantlay and is nearly 1,200 points clear of No. 7 Max Homa, who would be the first player missing out on an automatic berth if the top six qualifiers were decided today.

With four events left before actual qualifying ends – 3M Open, Wyndham Championship and two FedExCup playoff events, the FedEx St. Jude Invitational and BMW Championship – and one point available to players for every $1,000 earned in those tournaments, Koepka’s place inside the coveted top six is very much up for grabs.

Thomas’ struggles continue at The Open

Koepka should maintain his position through at least the end of the regular season, as No. 8 Cameron Young (about 1,740 points back of Koepka) and No. 14 Justin Thomas (about 3,050 points shy of Koepka) are the only top-15 players in Ryder Cup points teeing it up this week in Minnesota. Thomas is the only such player currently slated to play Wyndham as well – that said, the Ryder Cup veteran is struggling mightily with his game at the moment.

But with $20 million purses at each of the playoff events, including $3.6 million to the winner and $505,000 going to solo 11^th, that’s a lot of points that Koepka could potentially yield to his chasers. Which, if that’s the case, he’ll need to rely on getting one of Johnson’s six captain’s picks.

Here is how the current U.S. standings look:

1. Scottie Scheffler, 25,741.74
2. Wyndham Clark, 13,366.12
3. Brian Harman, 10,194.54
4. Brooks Koepka, 9,421.15
5. Xander Schauffele, 8,671.98
6. Patrick Cantlay, 8,454.75
7. Max Homa, 8,264.48
8. Cameron Young, 7,679.31
9. Jordan Spieth, 7,482.05
10. Keegan Bradley, 7,422.34
11. Collin Morikawa, 7,116.81
12. Rickie Fowler, 6,892.09
13. Sam Burns, 6,832.80
14. Justin Thomas, 6,370.10
15. Denny McCarthy, 6,239.87
16. Kurt Kitayama, 5,777.87
17. Will Zalatoris, 5,529.13
18. Harris English, 4,888.27
19. Tony Finau, 4,380.30
20. Chris Kirk, 4,240.27
21. Sahith Theegala, 3,978.68
22. Adam Schenk, 3,952.47
23. Taylor Moore, 3,703.65
24. Tom Hoge, 3,679.26
25. Russell Henley, 3,671.19

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