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Woodland climbs into automatic Ryder Cup spot

[February 06, 2018] Gary Woodland's victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Sunday vaulted him 16 spots and into an automatic qualifying spot for the 2018 United States Ryder Cup team.

Woodland entered the tournament at TPC Scottsdale in the 23rd position, well outside of one of the top eight automatic qualifying spots and consideration for a captain's pick. But his third career victory earned him 1,242 Cup points, and vaulted him into the No. 7 spot.

That is right ahead of Rickie Fowler, who slid down a spot after his latest back-nine collapse in a final round. Fowler was the 54-hole leader but shot a 2-over 73 in the final round. That was better than only nine of the 64 players who made the cut.

He did pick up 141.45 Ryder Cup points with the finish, which was enough to hold onto the No. 8 spot.

The top six spots remained unchanged with Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Matt Kuchar and Brian Harman. Kuchar tied for fifth at the Phoenix Open, while Thomas rallied for a tie for 17th with a 66 on Sunday. Spieth missed the cut.

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Chez Reavie, who lost to Woodland on the first playoff hole, climbed 14 spots and is at No. 11 heading into this week's AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. Patton Kizzire, the only two-time winner on the Tour this season, dropped two spots to No. 10 with his 31st-place finish in Arizona.

Jon Rahm's Sunday slide to a tie for 11th while playing in the final group with Fowler prevented him from further closing the gap between him and Matthew Fitzpatrick, who holds the fourth and final automatic spot on the European team.

Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton and Ross Fisher occupy the top three spots.

The 2018 Ryder Cup will be held Sept. 25-30 at LeGolf National in France, only the second time it will take place in Continental Europe in event history.

--Field Level Media

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