Jordan Spieth has never had to beg for his place on a Ryder Cup team. He’s been a cornerstone of Team USA and has long been a core member. But this year, things feel different. He was already hanging by a thread for a captain’s pick when someone else showed up with a performance that has put everything into chaos.

Cameron Young won the 2025 Wyndham Championship yesterday, delivering a crushing performance at the Sedgefield Country Club. With a final score of 22-under-par 258, he even tied the tournament scoring record and won by six strokes. Young collected a $1,476,000 winner’s check and made it incredibly hard for Keegan Bradley, Team USA’s captain, to leave him off the Ryder Cup roster.

As important as this win was for Young—his first PGA Tour win—it was also “on the back of his mind“ to stand out for the Ryder Cup through this championship. “That’s been a goal this whole year… trying to picture myself on that team. Obviously, I’d love to make it,” he said as per Fried Egg Golf. With this win, he’s practically forcing Bradley’s hand.

And that’s exactly where things get uncomfortable for Jordan Spieth.

In a podcast episode of No Laying Up, hosts DJ Piehowski and Chris Solomon analysed Young’s late-season surge, spelling it out as bad news for the three-time major winner. “Every putt Cameron Young makes is a bad thing for Jordan Spieth,” Solomon said.

Spieth is not in the top six of the Ryder Cup standings. There are fewer chances of him making it to the top after the Tour Championship, so he’s firmly on the bubble. With Young’s heated performance and a fantastic 2025 season so far, it’s becoming harder and harder to justify picking Spieth based on reputation alone. Numbers don’t lie, and yes, he has been a valuable asset to the team since 2014, having played last five consecutive Ryder Cups (Team US won 2 of those in 2016 and 2021). He has a strong match play record (8-7-3 overall), and he’s a veteran. His insights and experience make it hard for him to be left out.

So now, this lands squarely on Keegan Bradley.

Bradley himself might also be playing in the Ryder Cup while also serving as captain. And now that Young has defeated him in the Wyndham Championship, choosing himself over Young, it can come off as controversial. “And if he (Cameron Young) beats Keegan again the next couple of weeks, and Keegan takes himself over him in that spot. Pretty difficult spot to be in, man.”

Now, add in the pressure of deciding for someone like Spieth, and it gets messy. Keegan Bradley will have to reconsider a lot.

What’s remarkable is that a similar situation has occurred in the past. It was the 2014 Ryder Cup, when the then-captain Tom Watson had to undergo the same conundrum. He made the controversial call to pick more experienced players Webb Simpson, Hunter Mahan, and none other than Keegan Bradley— leaving out Billy Horschel, who was on an exceptional run of form. Just before the selection, Horschel had won the BMW Championship. And in a twist of irony, right after Watson finalized his picks, Horschel went on to win the Tour Championship too. As you might guess, Team USA went on to lose the Ryder Cup that year.

There are still two playoff events before Captain Bradley makes his final picks. If Speith wants a place in, he needs to spark, and that too immediately. Otherwise, the narrative is already writing itself, and spoiler alert, it might not be in his favor.

Can Jordan Spieth still make the Ryder Cup team?

Jordan Spieth‘s 2025 season just hasn’t landed the way it needed to. He had to miss certain events due to his wrist surgery that he underwent last August. Then he missed several weeks because of a neck injury. He hasn’t won all year and only has a few top 10s to his name, such as the WM Phoenix Open and the Memorial Tournament. It is way below what you’d expect from someone who’s been a Ryder Cup lock for over a decade. This has made it seriously hard to contend, and it’s reflected in the rankings. After the Wyndham Championship, he’s sitting around 27th on the Ryder Cup points list. Only the top six after the BMW Championship (August 17) will get in automatically, so right now he’s on the outside looking in.

To make the Ryder Cup team, Speith has two options left. First, go on a tear in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and then get into the Tour Championship. Put some high finishes and maybe even a win. This will boost his points and will make him stand out in the eyes of Keegan Bradley, which will eventually help him for the captain’s pick, which is the second option. While the first option is tough at this stage, the second option should be the veteran’s best bet. As he has himself put it after the British Open, “I need to win. I have got to work my way in.”

All in all, for Spieth, it’s crunch time.