Brooks Koepka has to go to the Ryder Cup – US are desperate for fighters not good guys

The countdown has begun and the conspiracy mongering is already in full motion. Will Zach Johnson name Brooks Koepka as one of his six wildcards after the five-time major winner was dramatically inched out of the automatic placings in the final minutes of the qualifying race on Sunday?

The answer seems obvious – yes. In truth it will be an almighty shock if Johnson overlooks the man who finished second at the Masters, before winning the USPGA and then coming so close to earning his berth to Rome by right in just the four qualifying events in which he played.

A snub would set the golf world alight and validate all those theorists on social media who are speculating that Johnson, a staunch PGA Tour loyalist, will refuse to select any golfer on the LIV roster when he unveils his picks next Monday after the conclusion of the Tour Championship.

The resulting fall-out could even affect the tense negotiations underway between the Tour and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. It would be absurd on Johnson’s behalf and despite his frankly daft selection policy of not watching any LIV events in his tenure – not even on TV – he is not stupid.

Koepka's fifth major title in May looked likely to secure his place in the side Credit: Getty Images/Andrew Redington

The other players on the US team have all but accepted that Koepka will be in their ranks in the Italian capital and an exclusion would probably cause infinitely more harm than good. Koepka travels.

Certainly, he makes it purely from a golf perspective and indeed because of the make-up of the half of Johnson’s dozen already decided. Three rookies booked their places – Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark and Max Homa – although the first-named two happened to win the Open and US Open this summer that trio will hardly have home captain Luke Donald trembling.

Together with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and perhaps Justin Thomas - more of whom later - Koepka will add that intimidatory factor. In Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele – who knocked out Koepka by 28 points with his tie for 8th at Olympia Fields – Johnson has a pairing which will strike fear into the blue and gold and Koepka’s presence will help magnify this trepidation.

With three matches in his locker, Koepka also brings experience, but that might be a moot point when it comes to the deliberations of Johnson and his assistants. Experience has not served Team US at all well on the road in recent years. The Stars and Stripes have not won an away Ryder Cup match in 30 years, which is remarkable when one considers the depth of talent.

Experience sucks when Air Fore! One – as it is nicknamed – calamitously takes to the skies and Johnson will be counting on a pick in Cameron Young joining the other first-timers to show that in this case innocence is a blessing not a curse.

Johnson may well add a fifth rookie in Sam Burns. He was 12th in the standings when the shutters came down at the conclusion of the BMW Championship – the penultimate event in the FedEx Cup play-offs – on Sunday. He is the reigning world Match Play champion, having accounted for Scheffler in the semi-finals in March and is a close confidant of 2022 Masters winner. If Scheffler has spoken up to Johnson, the potential for that partnership could swing it.

However, personalities could sway the day and for Johnson that could amount to the critical error. Thomas should not be near the reckoning in terms of form – he did not even make the top 70 on the Tour’s order of merits who made the play-offs – but he is a big character and highly popular. The Thomas and Spieth pairing is intoxicating and Johnson might not be able to resist. But if he can’t then he should not also be lured into picking Rickie Fowler.

The 34-year-old’s comeback this season from a slump that saw him drop outside the world’s top 170 this time last year has been heartwarming and there is no doubt about the panache and stardust he brings. He is another darling of the US galleries.

Everyone loves Rickie. But that includes the Europeans, particularly when they are welcoming him in their own backyard. Fowler missed out in Whistling Straits in 2021, but has played in each of the last three matches on Europe soil. In 12 games away from home, Fowler amassed 3.5 points. That is the sort of experience Johnson could do without.

Whatever he decides, the cesspit formerly known as Twitter, will be stirred into revulsion. Dustin Johnson won five out of five two years ago, Bryson DeChambeau shot a 58 last month and Patrick Reed is Captain America isn’t he? Johnson will overlook these, as well as multiple LIV winner, Talor Gooch, and probably quite rightly when he thinks of the dynamics in the team-room, a facet too often ignored in the past as the US have been desperate to get the 12 best players on the tee.

The script needs ripping up, but Koepka requires picking. He is prickly, belligerent and in the last Ryder Cup in Europe actually ended up in a tussle with Dustin Johnson in the after-match festivities. Yet he has that fire and as the only LIV representative will, however much he denies it, have something to prove. Johnson needs fighters and not necessarily the good ol’ guys.