Dustin Johnson goals sly dig at Team USA with Ryder Cup choice declare

Sep 14, 2023 at 6:29 PM
Dustin Johnson goals sly dig at Team USA with Ryder Cup choice declare

Dustin Johnson believes he deserved a spot on the United States Ryder Cup crew after being omitted forward of this month’s occasion in Rome. Johnson was considered one of plenty of LIV Golf stars hoping to make Team USA forward of their title defence, however just one was given the nod, Brooks Koepka.

The likes of Johnson, Patrick Reed, and Talor Gooch all missed out on a spot, with the previous Masters champion’s namesake Zach Johnson opting to go along with a PGA Tour-heavy crew as captain. On the again of his omission, Johnson believes he would have been given a spot if he was nonetheless taking part in his golf on the PGA Tour – even beneath his finest

He informed Golfweek: “I would love to be a part of the team. But to be honest, I haven’t really played that well this year. But have I played well enough to be on the team? Yeah. I didn’t have the best year. Was it good enough to make the team? I think so.

“If I would have been playing on [the PGA Tour], yeah, I would have made the team. Do I think I can help the US team? Absolutely.” Johnson’s 2023 snub means he’ll miss the Ryder Cup for under the second time since his debut again in 2010.

The American’s solely different absence got here in 2014 when the 4Aces captain opted to take time away from the golf programs because of “personal challenges”. Johnson himself admitted that his kind in 2023 has not been as much as the excessive normal he has proven all through his skilled profession.

However, he seems to really feel the expertise he bodes within the matchplay occasion would have been of use to the 2023 crew. Just two years earlier, the LIV Golf star was the starring man in Team USA’s record-breaking 19-9 victory over the Europeans at Whistling Straits.

Johnson performed in all 5 classes in Wisconsin and gained all 5 matches, in addition to being named the occasion’s inaugural Nicklaus-Jacklin award winner alongside fellow LIV star Sergio Garcia. The award was handed out to those that “best embody the spirit” of the Ryder Cup, and the enduring concession handed to Jacklin by Nicklaus again in 1969.

Two years on, each recipients have since made high-profile strikes to the Saudi-backed league and arguably the 2 largest omissions at this 12 months’s Ryder Cup. Like Johnson, Garcia is a stalwart of the occasion and holds the file for many factors gained by a participant in Ryder Cup historical past.