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Among those he was battling for one of the final spots on
captain Steve Stricker's team was Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler
ultimately was named to the squad that went on to rout Team
Europe at Whistling Straits in September.
Both are off to excellent starts in their quest to be part of
captain Zach Johnson's team in Rome next year.
Kisner is atop the U.S. team rankings released on Tuesday,
followed by Scheffler.
It came a day after Scheffler rose to No. 1 in the Official
World Golf Ranking thanks to his victory at the WGC-Dell Match
Play event, where he beat Kisner in the final. Scheffler already
has three victories in 2022 while Kisner has risen to No. 27 in
the world with four top-10s in eight starts this year.
Kisner entered last week with a 16-6-2 record at the match play
event, including a victory in 2019, and continued to build on
that resume with six more wins before falling 3&1 to Scheffler
in Sunday's final. After several close misses, Kisner told the
Sub-Par podcast in January that the Ryder Cup process is "too
political for me."
"I don't know, man. They don't like me I, guess," Kisner said on
the podcast. "I've had the same phone call for about four (Ryder
Cups) in a row from about every captain. 'Man, you were on the
team and then you didn't play well in the playoffs.' OK, bud."
Dustin Johnson, who last year became only the fifth player to go
5-0-0 at a Ryder Cup, is third in the current U.S. standings
following his fourth-place finish in Austin. He is followed by
Keegan Bradley and Harold Varner III, who claimed his biggest
career victory to date in Saudi Arabia last month.
In the very early Ryder Cup team rankings, the top 10 is filled
out by Doug Ghim, Will Zalatoris, Keith Mitchell, Brooks Koepka,
Max Homa and Daniel Berger. Homa and Berger are tied for 10th.
Spain's Jon Rahm, who had his 36-week stint atop the world
rankings snapped this week, leads Team Europe Ryder Cup
rankings. He is followed England's Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell
Hatton, Austria's Bernd Wiesberger and England's Matthew
Fitzpatrick. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is currently No. 6.
The next Ryder Cup takes place from Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2023, at
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome.
Kisner will be attempting to make the team for the first time at
nearly -- he turned 38 in February -- although he seems resigned
to missing out on the event once again.
"Whatever, it's fine," he said on the podcast. "I don't really
care. I love playing team golf, I love representing the U.S.,
I'd love to be on any team possible.
"But if my career ended tomorrow, I'd be perfectly content with
everything I've accomplished. If you had told me 15 years ago,
you're going to have four wins, play in a Presidents Cup, play
in 35 straight majors, or whatever I've done, I would have said,
'You're f---ing crazy.'"
--Field Level Media
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