U.S. Ryder Cup team: J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin can bring hope to Bethpage

You might have found yourself watching the final rounds of the U.S. Open and wondering where the stars were. Understandable. But there were far more names you'll need to know this fall than you realized.
For all the chaos Oakmont Country Club inflicted on the best golfers in the world, it was the most telling week in a long time. It was the week that clarified a wide-open Ryder Cup roster race.
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When my colleague Gabrielle Herzig and I did Ryder Cup projections in April, it was pure guessing on the U.S. side. There were perhaps six sure things followed by countless struggling stars and streaky golfers capable of turning back into pumpkins any day now. Zero clarity.
Suddenly, though, the usurpers are proving to be the real deal. They're flat out earning spots. But it's not just them. Some of those Ryder Cup veterans playing so poorly that they didn't deserve picks after the Masters? They're showing life. It's about to get interesting.
Let's just get out of the way that Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa will be on the team, most likely as automatic qualifiers. Then, let's make clear that even for all their major struggles, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay are on. They are both modern Ryder Cup stars with a combined 12 wins (plus Presidents Cup success), and Thomas is back up to No. 9 in the world on DataGolf while Cantlay is 15. They're in.
J.J. Spaun jumps 10 spots to No. 3️⃣ in the U.S. Ryder Cup Rankings after his @usopengolf win!
Full Rankings ➡️ https://t.co/2jXIaRmhEf#GoUSA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/bYGJmywHyt
— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) June 16, 2025
Lastly, unless things go quite awry, Russell Henley is likely to be picked or qualify automatically. Aside from the fact he's No. 10 on DataGolf, No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking and coming off three top 10s in his last five majors, his performance at the last Presidents Cup (3-1 record) proved he's made for this setting. He's a plug-and-play Swiss Army knife who appeared to be the perfect pairing with Scheffler. On a team without many good putters, Henley is fantastic on the greens. That's seven names.
But the story of Oakmont is actually the grinders who've gone from fringe candidates to probably on the team. Start with J.J. Spaun, the U.S. Open winner who is now No. 3 in the rankings and likely to automatically qualify.
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Don't even start saying it. No, he will not make the team just because he won a major, like Brian Harman two years ago. Nope. Spaun was already 13th in Ryder Cup points before his incredible performance. Last June, it looked like the 34-year-old could lose his tour card. Everything since then? Objectively, one of the best players in the world. Third place at Sony. Fifteenth at Torrey Pines. Tied for second at the Cognizant. He took Rory McIlroy to a playoff at The Players with some sincerely clutch golf. I didn't see any other Americans within two shots that week. Add in the T6 at Charles Schwab and now this life-changing win, and Spaun is No. 18 in the world in DataGolf and even better if just factoring in 2025. He's on the team, no matter what.
You might not have known the name Ben Griffin a year ago. Now, you simply cannot ignore him. Even before his recent heater, he had three top 10s by March and was trending in the right direction. But my goodness, what is happening? A team win at the Zurich Classic, followed by a T8 at the PGA Championship, a win at Colonial, second place at the Memorial — going toe to toe with Scheffler — and now a T10 at the U.S. Open. He's up to eighth on points, but it's more than that. Rocking the aviators (for medical reasons) with a big, charming personality, Griffin simply has the panache to thrive at Bethpage in front of the New York crowd. Barring a strong collapse, I will truly be surprised if he's not on the team.
As of March, it would have been pretty reckless to take 2023 teammates Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka or Sam Burns to Bethpage. Spieth was coming off wrist surgery and still hadn't shown much. Koepka's game was nonexistent for the better part of two years. And Burns was missing cuts and went months without a top-20 finish.
Suddenly, they all have life. Burns led the U.S. Open through 64 holes and finished second the week before. He's arguably the best putter in the world (again, that matters for the U.S.) and is back up to No. 11 on DataGolf. Plus, I know we roll our eyes at it, but he is very good friends with Scheffler and has a good relationship with most of the room. At this point, I think Burns is in.
Spieth finished 23rd at Oakmont after a T7 at the Memorial. He has seven top 20s this year. And let's be honest with ourselves. Spieth and Koepka have a different rubric for making the team. They are some of the best of their generation. Spieth, at least, is perhaps the biggest leader in that room. I don't think Spieth needs to be a top-10 player to make it. He just needs to show he's back to being pretty good, and right now, he's the best golfer he's been since 2021. For the moment, we'll assume that the injury which caused him to withdraw from the Travelers Championship on Thursday is not longterm.
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Koepka has a ways to go. Again, he hasn't just struggled. He's been outright bad. So while it was super encouraging to see his T12 at Oakmont, he'll need to play well at the Open Championship and even play better on LIV. He's No. 72 in the world right now on DataGolf. Plus, he no-showed hard at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome.
If we hypothetically say that's 11 names, including Burns and Spieth but not Koepka, then who gets the final spot? That crop looks better than it did two months ago.
Andrew Novak, Griffin's partner in crime at Zurich, was golf's hottest player before Griffin took the title. Maverick McNealy is streaky, sure, but when he's on, he's absolutely filthy. That's something in match play. Daniel Berger's comeback tour has been worth following, but he'd likely need a win or a big performance at Royal Portrush to break through. Harris English continues to play solid golf and was on the winning 2021 team. Akshay Bhatia has a chance, too.
Oh, and we haven't even mentioned the captain. Keegan Bradley has maintained he wouldn't pick himself and would only play if he were an automatic qualifier. The problem is he's playing quite well. And he's mainly playing well at tougher tests like Bay Hill, Sawgrass, Muirfield Village and Quail Hollow. He's the 10th highest rated U.S. player in the DataGolf rankings. My goodness, the irony of the U.S. leaving out a better player because he's the captain is just too good.
Maybe the most fun wild card to follow is the electric yet infuriating Cameron Young. He hasn't been the golfer who showed such immense promise in 2022 for a long time, but he's found something. At two incredibly tough courses, he just racked up consecutive T4s at the Memorial and the U.S. Open. He's also an absolute bomber. As much as I think course fit stuff than be a little overblown with Ryder Cups, Young's distance at Bethpage Black is the type that matters.
There is still so much golf to be played between now and September, but it's no longer an abstract board of names. We have a strong feeling now about who should make it.
And no, Patrick Reed will not be on this Ryder Cup team.
(Top photos of J.J. Spaun, left, and Ben Griffin: Andrew Redington, Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

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