Tiger Woods is ‘trending’ for one of USA’s four Ryder Cup wildcards

• Furyk names the eight qualifiers for Paris showdown
• ‘We want players who are going to help us be successful’

It is a further nod towards the progress of Tiger Woods that it would now be a shock if he does not play at September’s Ryder Cup. Woods’s hopes of a 15th major title, which would have earned him an automatic berth in Jim Furyk’s team, were doused by Brooks Koepka on Sunday but a second-place finish at the US PGA Championship was sufficient to keep the 42-year-old at the front of the picture. A year ago, the impact of back surgery meant he was unable to swing a golf club.

The eight qualifying members of Furyk’s team have been confirmed. Koepka will be joined in France by Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson. With certainty attached to Woods’s name as one of four wildcard picks, speculation surrounds who will join him. Phil Mickelson, Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar are believed to be the names, for now, most prominent in Furyk’s mind. Everyone else, it seems, is occupied by Woods.

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