Tony Finau Completes The Best Ryder Cup Team Ever Assembled

Tony Finau, the 15th-ranked player in the world, became the 12th man and final piece of the American Ryder Cup team yesterday. He finished T8th at the BMW yesterday, his 11th top-10 of the season to go along with three 2nds and 18 top-25s. He’s made 24 of 27 cuts and is 3rd in the FedEx Cup standings.

He gets added to the following team, alongside their current ranking in the world.

2 – Dustin Johnson
3 – Brooks Koepka
4 – Justin Thomas
8 – Bryson DeChambeau
9 – Rickie Fowler
10 – Jordan Spieth
13 – Bubba Watson
14 – Patrick Reed
15 – Tony Finau
17 – Webb Simpson
21 – Tiger Woods
25 – Phil Mickelson

On last week’s Fore Play, Brandel Chamblee declared this the best Ryder Cup team ever assembled… by a wide margin. He’s right. This team won the 2016 Ryder Cup 17-11, and now adds Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, Webb Simpson, and Tiger Woods. 10 of the 12 are ranked in the top-17 in the world. The expected pairings have chemistry, promise, and, in some cases, experienced plenty of success.

Reed & Spieth (4-1-2 Ryder Cup record)
JT & Rickie (2-0-1 Presidents Cup record)
DJ & Koepka (meat, power)
Tiger & Bryson (analytics)
Bubba & Webb (dorks, but our dorks)
Phil & Finau (fore left! and right!)

I feel confident in every single one of those pairings.

Overall, 18 of the top 21-ranked players in the world are playing in the Ryder Cup. Colin Montgomerie said, in July, that this could also be the best European Ryder Cup team ever:

“It is amazing what an Open victory does to a team mentality,” he said. “(European skipper) Thomas (Bjorn) is probably looking at the best team that we’ve had for, well, almost ever. Alex Noren hasn’t played before, but he’s a world player. Jon Rahm, world player. Molinari has played before, and Tommy Fleetwood is another world player. We’ve got a great strength in depth. It’s looking extremely good for Thomas.”

Historically, the home team gains an almost 3-point advantage. Although we’re as good as ever, we haven’t won on European soil since 1993, and the hostile territory will make things difficult. It always does.

I’ll be there all week covering this thing. Coming home without the trophy is not acceptable.

Best event in golf. Let’s do this damn thing.