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Ryder Cup 2025: Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler among Team USA automatic qualifiers for Bethpage Black

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Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun and Xander Schauffele were the first three automatic qualifiers for Team USA; Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau had their spots confirmed after the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship; Watch the Ryder Cup live from September 26-28 on Sky Sports

Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau have been confirmed as the final three automatic qualifiers for Team USA’s Ryder Cup side.

 

The race to qualify for Keegan Bradley’s side began in March 2024, with players earning points for prize money earned on the PGA Tour, with the qualification campaign running until the conclusion of the BMW Championship on August 17.

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler was the first automatic qualifier, with his spot officially confirmed in June, with JJ Spaun and Xander Schauffele the next two to guarantee their spots for Bethpage Black.

Henley and English had their places confirmed after safely progressing through to the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship, with DeChambeau holding onto the final automatic spot despite playing in the LIV Golf League and only earning points from majors.

The six automatic qualifiers will be joined by six captain’s picks, announced by Bradley on August 27 at 4pm, live on Sky Sports, ahead of the biennial contest taking place from September 26-28.

Team USA’s six automatic qualifiers confirmed

Scheffler will headline the American team after another dominant season, with victory at the BMW Championship his fifth on the PGA Tour in 2025 – including major titles at the PGA Championship and The Open.

Both Scheffler and Schauffele make their third consecutive Ryder Cup appearances, having featured in the record-breaking win at Whistling Straits in 2021 and their 16.5-11.5 defeat in Rome in 2023.

Spaun makes his Team USA debut after claiming a breakthrough major title at the US Open in June, along with runner-up finishes at The Players and FedEx St Jude Championship, with Henley also set for a rookie appearance after an impressive campaign.

English had two runner-up finishes in majors this season and won the Farmers Insurance Open earlier in the campaign, securing him a second Ryder Cup appearance and first since 2021, with DeChambeau returning to Team USA after not featuring in the last contest.

DeChambeau played at Le Golf National in 2018 and featured in the last Ryder Cup on American soil, with the two-time US Open champion posting six top 10 finishes in majors during the 17-month qualification campaign.

Who needs a captain pick for Team USA?

Former world No 1 Justin Thomas narrowly missed out on an automatic qualification spot and will likely be given a captain’s pick by Bradley, having featured in each of the last three editions for Team USA.

Collin Morikawa has been in the past two teams and finished eighth in the Ryder Cup qualification standings, with Ben Griffin, Maverick McNealy, Bradley and Brian Harman the next four in the rankings.

Tyrrell Hatton, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, Ludvig Åberg and Viktor Hovland all featured in Europe’s 2023 victory and are expected to be involved again in New York, where Donald will be hoping to secure the first away win since 2012.

Only points earned on the DP World Tour this week will be included in the rankings, with Matt Fitzpatrick, Nicolai Hojgaard, Rasmus Hojgaard and Matt Wallace among those in the field at the Belfry hoping to impress.

Donald will then name his six captain’s picks on Monday September 1 at 4pm, live on Sky Sports.

How can I watch the next Ryder Cup?

Sky Sports will continue to be the home of the Ryder Cup, with all three days of the 2025 contest exclusively live from September 26-28. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more with NOW.

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Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper to play qualifiers in opening round at Flushing Meadows

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The draw is set for the US Open with Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper meeting qualifiers in the opening round at Flushing Meadows; the US Open is live on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app from August 24

British stars Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will both play qualifiers in their opening matches at this year’s US Open.

Raducanu, who could face former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the third round, will be first on Louis Armstrong Stadium as the tournament begins on Sunday, live on Sky Sports from 4pm.

Draper appears set to start his campaign on Monday as he looks to build on the success he enjoyed at Flushing Meadows last year. But he could meet defending champion Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals if both win through.

Both Raducanu and Draper must await the completion of the qualifying tournament on Friday evening before learning the identity of their first-round opponents.

Back at the top of the British rankings, Raducanu is playing probably some of her best tennis since her remarkable US Open triumph in 2021 – although that bar is lower after a turbulent few years due to injury.

Her informal coaching arrangement with Mark Petchey appeared to be working, with the 22-year-old enjoying a run to the semi-finals of the Washington Open, but she has now brought in Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francis Roig ahead of the Grand Slam in New York.

Spanish coach Roig worked alongside Nadal and with Nadal’s uncle Toni for the majority of his career, where he won 22 Grand Slam titles.

The other British women have been handed tough draws, with Katie Boulter taking on 27th seed Marta Kostyuk and Sonay Kartal meeting 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Draper warmed up for the singles tournament reaching the mixed doubles semi-finals, with him and Jessica Pegula beating Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz along the way.

World No 5 Draper is hoping to be a force this year. In 2024 he reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows before losing to eventual champion Sinner.

Ahead of the tournament he had to withdraw from events in Toronto and Cincinnati due to a forearm injury, but has now recovered ahead of this US Open return.

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Scottie Scheffler on what’s ‘taken a lot’ out of him ahead of the Tour Championship, it affected his preparation

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Scottie Scheffler revealed that something has taken a lot out of him in the build up to the Tour Championship.

The PGA Tour is set for its final event of the postseason – the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. 30 of the best golfers on the PGA Tour will battle it out over four days to become the FedEx Cup champion.

Scottie Scheffler enters the championship as world number one, and leads the FedEx Cup standings by a considerable margin over Rory McIlroy in second. He beat Robert MacIntyre to win the BMW Championship last week, and now seeks to retain his FedEx Cup title.

But his preparation has been affected by something that he admitted has taken a lot out of him.

Scottie Scheffler said being in contention takes a lot out of him

Scheffler has had a historic year. He won the Open Championship and PGA Championship to move a U.S. Open away from the career grand slam, won the FedEx Cup regular season running away, and has cemented his status as the world’s best golfer.

Scheffler’s season has been compared to Tiger Woods and drawn plaudits from Phil Mickelson, such has been his dominance.

Every tournament feels like Scheffler vs the field. He’s in contention week in, week out, and has shown no signs of slowing down. Or so we thought. The American said that this weekend his focus is on rest, as his 2025 dominance has taken a lot.

Speaking to the Golf Channel, he admitted, “After having a week like last week, it takes a lot out of you being in contention. So going into this week I’m focusing on rest for the first couple of days. I’m going to get used to the speed of the greens and get used to the bunkers and the rough.

“I’m not going to be hitting a lot of balls on the driving range. I’m going to play nine holes and do my putting and chipping and then I’m going to get out of here.

“A little bit of a different prep work than a normal week but that’s just because I feel like my game’s in a good spot and I need rest going into this week.”

That’s great news for the rest of the field, especially with the new format pulling Scheffler ever closer.

Scottie Scheffler happy with new Tour Championship format, despite suffering disadvantage

In previous years, Scheffler would have started the Tour Championship with a two-shot advantage as the FedEx Cup leader. This year, the format has changed, and everyone starts from zero. But a confident Scheffler said this format is better for the sport.

“The last few years have been an unusual format. I gave up my handicap this year which is a little different. I much prefer this format. I think having a really good golf tournament to finish off our year is the way to do it, and the way the format was the last couple years, I didn’t think it was a great tournament.”

Giving a two-shot lead to Scheffler is effectively giving him the win. Now, the likes of McIlroy, Fleetwood, and St. Jude Championship winner Justin Rose are all in contention to win the coveted prize.

With Scheffler taking it easy in the first few days, a hot start for any of the world’s best players could give them a significant advantage.

 

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2025 Tour Championship picks, odds: Can anybody upset Scottie Scheffler at East Lake?

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The 2025 PGA Tour season concludes this weekend at East Lake in Atlanta, Ga., and, if we’re being honest, they should just crown Scottie Scheffler the FedEx Cup Champion and save us all the trouble.

Scheffler erased a four-stroke deficit Sunday to win the BMW Championship, giving the World No. 1 his fifth win and 15th top-10 finish in 18 starts this season.

Those results are historic, but he’ll only be crowned as this season’s champion if he can win this week’s Tour Championship.

In previous formats, Scheffler would start the Tour Championship at 10-under par, but the powers that be have decided to do away with starting strokes and put all 30 players on even par for the 2025 iteration.

Not only does that level the playing field, but it also makes this tournament a lot more fun for bettors, who, like casual fans, were pretty tired of the old format.

Even without the head start, Scheffler is a whopping +150 favorite at DraftKings, well ahead of Rory McIlroy (+850), Tommy Fleetwood (14/1), Ludvig Aberg (18/1) and Russell Henley (20/1).

Despite his Tiger-esque odds, you can feel pretty confident that Scheffler will be the most popular bet behind the window this week – and don’t let me stand in your way if that’s your speed – but we’ll pick out a few long shots who look like they’re primed to make some noise in the curtain-closer.

If you’re a regular reader of our Wednesday golf picks, you probably saw this one coming.

We’ve been on Harry Hall the past two weeks, hoping to cash in on the Englishman’s terrific, yet unheralded, form.

It hasn’t worked out just yet, but Hall was right around it once again at the BMW Championship, finishing sixth for his fifth top-10 finish on the season.

The 28-year-old has been remarkably consistent to close out 2025, posting 11 straight top-30 finishes with eight top-20s in that span.

According to Justin Ray of the Twenty-First Group, Hall ranks first in strokes gained: putting, third in scoring average and fourth in birdie-or-better rate since May 1.

He’s doing everything but winning right now.

It wasn’t too long ago that Shane Lowry was in terrific form with nine top-20s, four top-10s and a pair of runner-ups in his first 14 starts in 2025.

A terrible showing at the US Open seemed to cause the Irishman to come unglued, however, and he’s now without a top-20 finish in his last five tournaments.

That said, Lowry finished T23 at the BMW Championship and showed signs of life Sunday.

Known to do his best work on the biggest stages, Lowry’s talent means he’s always worth a look at this kind of price.

Like Hall, Sungjae Im has been a regular feature in this column to no avail, yet.

Like Lowry, this is a buy-low opportunity on a player with the talent to disrupt this field.

It may be a surprise that Im even qualified for this event, but his T17 at the St. Jude two weeks ago was enough to vault him into East Lake in what has otherwise been a down year.

The South Korean has missed four cuts and posted just two top-30 finishes in his last 10 starts, but he has popped at different times this year. He came out of the gates strong with two top-five results in his first three starts, and he was T5 at Augusta in April.

Im also has some strong history at East Lake with a runner-up in 2022 and a sixth-place finish last year.

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