Davis Love III surprised by Hunter Mahan’s absence from the top-eight in the Ryder Cup points list
Davis Love III, the captain for the United States Ryder Cup team, showed his surprise after not finding Hunter Mahan listed among the top-eight players who will get automatic berths for this year’s two-yearly team event.
The biennial tournament will officially begin on September 28, 2012 at the Medinah Country Club.
Mahan is a two-time winner in the current season and his wins include the prestigious WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship and the Houston Open.
Last week, he was replaced by Keegan Bradley through a victory at the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.
"How could that even happen? When I go back and look at the points, I guess he (Mahan) probably had a couple of weeks where he might have missed a couple of cuts," Love told reporters on Wednesday.
"You win two golf tournaments, you think he would be in, especially big ones like he won. It shows you our guys are playing very, very well".
Despite being surprised by the move, Love was also happy that his team consists of strong contenders who even outshined even a two-time winner on the US Ryder Cup point list.
The final eight will be confirmed after PGA Championship concludes on Sunday this week. Moreover, Love will also announce his four picks, who will join the team for September’s event.
If looked at the current top eight players, it is quite evident that the US team has great chances of improving its track record in the tournament. In the last four Ryder Cups, Europeans have dominated the Americans.
The expected top eight to make it to the US Ryder Cup team includes Tiger Woods, Jason Dufner, Bubba Watson, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson.
However, a couple of shifts can be seen at the bottom of the top eight if someone else from the outside manages to make an unexpected surge on the points table.
"We are very excited about it," Love said. "It was a great win for Keegan last week, a great putt on the last hole, and obviously Jim is playing very well week in and week out now”.
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