Dustin Johnson (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
(USA Today) --- Speaking Tuesday morning at the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square, U.S.Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III filled out his team's roster with four blue-chippers he's counting on to help the red, white and blue defeat Europe, which has won four of the last five meetings.
Drawing from a deep pool of talent, Love selected experienced veterans Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk, long-hitting Dustin Johnson and putting wizard Brandt Snedeker as his four captain's picks. That left out the likes of Hunter Mahan, who won two PGA Tour titles earlier this year, Rickie Fowler, Nick Watney, Bo Van Pelt and Bill Haas for the biennial match-play tussle Sept. 28-30 at Medinah Country Club near Chicago.
Love's four captain's picks join the eight players who automatically qualified for the team after a two-year points system: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Masters champion Bubba Watson and Ryder Cup newcomers Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner and U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson. Snedeker will also be playing in his first Ryder Cup.
"I think that I have played really well the last few weeks to make my pick pretty solid and I'm really excited about it," Johnson said.
"I've played the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup both away, so I'm really looking forward to playing one on U.S. soil."
Johnson is an Irmo native who played golf at Dutch Fork High School before earning All-America honors at Coastal Carolina.