Finau selected to U.S. Ryder Cup team

September 10, 2018
By The Associated Press

He’s the final wild-card pick for U.S. Captain Jim Furyk

• NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Tony Finau has been named to the Ryder Cup team, the final pick by U.S. captain Jim Furyk.

  Finau, who is fourth in the FedExCup standings, joins Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods as Furyk’s four wild-card selections. Finau has 11 top-10s this season, including three in majors.

  “There won’t be any locker room noise with me,” Finau said Monday. “I can play with anyone. I feel that my personality is just that way. I can bring the best out of different guys playing with them, and them the same to me. I’m pretty easy to play with. And I’m playing some good golf, some world-class golf.”

  His appeal is that he makes a lot of birdies, which is critical in match play. He was paired with Furyk the first two days at the PGA Championship, and struggled in the opening round before he tied a championship record by making 10 birdies in the second round.

  “He has an unbelievable body of work this year,” Furyk said. “All those top-10 finishes, the play in big championships and the majors, and then his current form, a second, a fourth and an eighth in the Playoffs. He checked a lot of boxes and made it impossible not to pick him.”

  Eight automatic qualifiers were set after the PGA Championship, so the start of the FedExCup Playoffs was effectively an audition. Finau was runner-up (by four shots) in THE NORTHERN TRUST, and then he tied for fourth at the Dell Technologies Championship.

  The Ryder Cup team includes three rookies (Finau, DeChambeau and Justin Thomas) and nine major champions (with 31 total major victories).

  The matches are Sept. 28-30 outside Paris.