Our Cup Runneth...

The PGA Championship is the last event to county in the points race for both teams, so let's take a look at the current state of play.  As is traditional, we'll let the visitors bat first:

Team America - Here are the final point standings per a screen shot that Shackelford helpfully grabbed:

So, that leaves us with a bunch of question marks even amongst the nine that have qualified.  While Phil's recent form and Rickie's play in the majors constitutes good news, there's little else to cheer Captain Watson.  Limiting ourselves to the current nine-man squad, he has an injury issue with Kooch, though the back issue that forced him to WD from the PGA is reported to be minor.

But that leaves a team on which Bubba, Spieth Reed and Zach are in no way close to form, and that's a generous interpretation.  Jimmy Walker gets a pass because he got some Sunday airtime, though he was never really in the mix, and we know how cranky Bubba can get if the course doesn't suit his eye or it rains.  We're in Scotland, so the latter is obviously a longshot possibility...

I listened to Tom Watson's press conference this morning and he said exactly what you'd expect, meaning that he shed absolutely no light on his thinking.  His picks will be made September 2nd, which effectively means he'll get to see three more events, and I would assume that the bubble boys will be under a certain pressure to play in the Wyndham.  

But here's where Commissioner Ratched has made it complicated.  Everyone on that list has played the last two weeks, and after the Wyndham next week will play four straight weeks in the FedEx Playoffs finishing the weekend before the Ryder Cup.  That's a lot of golf, and if you knew, just as a for instance, that you were going to take Keegan Bradley, you really wouldn't want him playing seven straight weeks before he even gets to Gleneagles, would you?

So, where do we think the Captain stands on the Striped One.  His comments at the presser were delightfully opaque, nothing more than I'll be speaking to Tiger regularly.  He's shown no playing form, and has no intention of going out of his way to find a place to tee it up, so we're left with the operative conclusion that he will not be on the team.  What seems to be missing is Tiger stepping up and taking Tom off the hook, though those two are not the closest ever since Watson called Tiger out for his on-course behavior. 

You'll have read between the lines above and gathered that I expect Bradley to be on the team, which I consider almost a mortal lock at this point.  He was reasonably close to qualifying and played OK the last few weeks.  More importantly, he's got a competitive make-up that I assume Watson will find appealing for a road game in this notoriously intense event.  

For the other two picks, I would speculate that since no one seized the day the last few weeks, that Watson himself doesn't know at this point.  Snedeker was talked up over the weekend, and he'd be on my short list as well, but I'd also sit back and let his sticks talk to me.  I'm also intrigued by Ryan Moore, who was a match-play stud in his amateur days.

But is anyone feeling cocky at this point?  It's not a team that will strike fear into the Euro's hearts, but perhaps we can sneak up on them?

The home team will be next up.