Davis Love is happy with how the USA Ryder Cup team is shaping up
By Mark Crellin
Last Updated: 30/08/16 9:15am
USA Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III says Rickie Fowler will be an "obvious" captain's pick if he maintains his current form.
And the American skipper added that he "loves" how his team his shaping up, with eight of the 12 members now in place.
Fowler is one of the biggest names in American golf and looked on course to qualify for the Ryder Cup team as of right on Sunday at The Barclays, only to slip down the leaderboard in the closing stages.
He eventually finished in a tie for seventh, meaning winner Patrick Reed and Zach Johnson secured the final two automatic spots.
But Love III still has four captain's picks to make over the coming weeks and says Fowler is likely to be in the mix.
"We are really excited about our chances," Love told Sky Sports News HQ on Monday.
"It was great to see Patrick play so well, and Ricky.
"Ricky is trending up, he is starting to make a whole lot of putts.
"Unfortunately, all his bogeys seemed to come in the last nine holes, but he had a great week as well and is hitting the ball very well.
"Certainly, you want to secure your position, you want to be in that top eight. He wanted it desperately and it might have hurt him a little bit coming down the stretch.
"But he is playing well, he was in good spirits last night.
"He is excited about his chances in the play-offs and, if he keeps up this kind of play, he is going to be an obvious pick.
"Zach Johnson has secured his spot. He has been trying a little too hard, trying to hold on to his position. Now, going into the FedEx play-offs, he can relax.
"It was a great day for our team, it is nice to name our eight, and now we can sit back and watch Darren (Clarke, Europe captain) sweat and make his three captain's selections tomorrow."
Clarke already has five rookies in his team so he may opt for experience with his picks but Brooks Koepka is the only rookie who will definitely be in the USA team, and Love is happy about the situation.
"It gives me a lot of flexibility," he said. "I do not have to worry about picking veterans, I have got them on my team already.
"I can freewheel it a bit on my picks, make good pairings.
"Darren, on the other hand, has got a bunch of rookies. He has only got three picks, he has got to look for some experience maybe.
"I love our team, and love where we are going. I have got two weeks to watch them play and pick three, and then another two weeks and a last-minute pick after the Tour Championship.
"We have got a lot of flexibility and we will make sure we get the hottest players on our team.
"We are going to sit down and start making some pairings but, as Tiger (Woods, vice-captain) told me over the weekend, we have got a lot of golf to watch before we can narrow this down."
One thing for certain is that the spectators at Hazeltine for the Cup (which starts on 30 September) will be creating a fervent pro-USA atmosphere.
"Europe is going to be in for it," Love chuckled. "It is going to be a loud crowd.
"It is going to be home field advantage and we are excited about playing in front of that crowd."