The first three captain’s picks made by U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk on Tuesday turned out to be about as surprising as the Jets naming of rookie Sam Darnold as their starting quarterback.
As expected, Furyk named Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau to the U.S. team that will play the Europeans Sept. 28-30 at Le Golf National outside of Paris. The U.S. has not won a Ryder Cup on European soil since 1993, when it won at the Belfry in England.
European captain Thomas Bjorn will make his four captain’s picks on Wednesday. Furyk will make his fourth and final pick Monday.
For Mickelson, this will be his record 12th Ryder Cup team, eclipsing the record of 11 he shared with Nick Faldo.
Mickelson, whose first Ryder Cup was 1995, has never been a part of a U.S. winning side on the road. Mickelson’s overall Ryder Cup record is 18-20-7.
For Woods, it’ll be his eighth appearance and first since 2012. The U.S. record with Woods on the team is 1-7, with the only win coming in 1999 at Brookline, Mass. He has a 13-17-3 record.
DeChambeau, who’ll be playing in his first Ryder Cup, made Furyk’s choice a no-brainer by winning the past two FedEx Cup events, the Northern Trust at Ridgewood Country Club and the Dell Technologies Championship outside of Boston.
DeChambeau, Mickelson and Woods finished 9th, 10th and 11th in the points list standings, respectively, after the top eight players had qualified at the end of the PGA Championship.
“The three here made it probably a little easier day than for most captains,’’ Furyk said at a press conference in West Conshohocken, Pa. “Bryson really separated himself and put an exclamation point on things. I have to say, ‘Thanks, you really made is easy on the captain.’ ’’
DeChambeau, who attended the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine as a fan, said after his win at Ridgewood that playing he’d been on a “mission’’ to make the Ryder Cup team.
Mission accomplished.
“I was disappointed to not make the top eight [for the automatic berth onto the team], but I regrouped,’’ DeChambeau said.
That might be the understatement of the PGA Tour season.
In January, when Furyk asked Woods, 42, to be one of his vice captains, Woods was ranked 656th in the world, had not earned a single Ryder Cup point and had not played a PGA tour event in a year.
Yet Woods, who’s now ranked No. 26 in the world, said he asked Furyk at that time, “What about a playing vice captain?’’
That seemed like a pipe dream, but as Woods played and quickly began contending in tournaments, it began to look like a reality and was cemented by his runner-up finish at the PGA in August.
“It’s incredible to look back at the start of the year and now to have accomplished a goal like this to be a part of this team as a player is beyond special,’’ Woods said. “I get chills just thinking about it.’’
Furyk announced he’ll replace Woods as vice captain, naming David Duval, Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar to join previously announced vice captains Davis Love III and Steve Stricker.
When Mickelson, 48, won in Mexico in the March to end a five-year winless drought, he thought it would be a certainty he’d be on the team. But a sluggish summer stalled those thoughts until he regained his form in the last month, climaxed by the final-round 63 he shot on Monday at the Dell.
“This is most likely my last chance to go to be a part of a winning U.S. team in Europe, and obviously the one thing that has been missing for our team has been to go over to Europe and win,’’ Mickelson said. “I’m very excited to be a part of this team. We have some incredible players and a special opportunity to do something we haven’t done in a long time.’’
The three picks join Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson on the team. Perhaps Tony Finau, who’s been in strong form lately, is most likely to be Furyk’s final pick.
Bjorn’s team consists of Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Tyrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren and Thorbjorn Olesen. Among the players he’s considering for his four at-large selections, include Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Thomas Pieters and last week’s winner in Demark, Matt Wallace, a multiple winner on the European Tour this year.
Unlike the relatively simple task for Furyk, Bjorn has many more difficult decisions to make by Wednesday.