Bob MacIntyre's Ryder Cup task laid bare as contenders emerge for Bethpage Black
It drops in my inbox every Monday morning and is always interesting to look at, even though, admittedly, it’s too early to really tell us too much in terms of how it will all eventually pan out.
I am talking, of course, about the European Ryder Cup standings for September’s match at Bethpage Black in New York and the first observation to make is that the qualification process for this edition is very straightforward indeed.
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Hide AdFor recent matches against the Americans, two separate points lists - one was a world list that was based mainly on PGA Tour events and the other one was effectively for DP World Tour players - were used to determine automatic qualifiers in the first instance, but this time it’s just one.


The top six on it after the conclusion of the Betfred British Masters at The Belfry on 25 August will be those automatic qualifiers on this occasion, with an additional six players then being picked by European captain Luke Donald.
While the Englishman would be the first to point out that there is lots of water to still go under the bridge before he’s even close to knowing the players he’ll be leading into battle at Bethpage Black, one of those automatic spots will definitely be going to Rory McIlroy.
On the back of producing his best Ryder Cup performance to date in the 2023 win at Marco Simone Golf Club on the outskirts of Rome, the Northern Irishman is already well out in front in the points table and, based on his performance in winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am in California on Sunday, is likely to stay there.
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Hide AdIn contrast, it is extremely unlikely that Tyrrell Hatton will be able to maintain his current position in second spot, having laid down his marker in a bid to make a fourth successive Ryder Cup appearance by winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship for a record-breaking third time in October before then landing the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last month.
Hatton’s focus will now switch to the new LIV Golf season, which gets underway later this week in Saudi Arabia, and that means he’s going to have to rely on his performances in majors to secure automatic qualification because he won’t be back on the DP World Tour until after the points battle ends at The Belfry, which is fitting due to it being a venue that is synonymous with European success in the biennial bout.
If it comes down to him needing a pick and provided, of course, he’s not prevented from doing so with a cloud still hanging over him due to appealing against fines and suspensions imposed by the DP World Tour, Hatton will almost certainly get one and the same goes, of course, for his LIV Golf team-mate Jon Rahm.
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Hide AdAt the moment, the other players in automatic berths are Rasmus Hojgaard, Shane Lowry, Matt Wallace and Niklas Norgaard, with Lowry having boosted his hopes of being on the team for a third time after finishing as McIlroy’s closest challenger in California. “The older I get, the doubts do creep in every year if you still have it at this level,” admitted the 2019 Open champion, “but, even without my best stuff today, I showed what I was made of.”
For my money, Lowry will almost certainly be heading to Bethpage Black, as will Ludvig Aberg and Tommy Fleetwood and, though neither is firing on all cylinders at the moment, you’ve got to think that Donald will want both Matthew Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland to be there as well.


That would be eight spots filled and four up for grabs, with my list of current contenders being, in purely alphabetical order, being Laurie Canter, the Hojgaard twins Nicolai and Rasmus, Bob MacIntyre, Matthieu Pavon, Aaron Rai, Justin Rose and Sepp Straka.
As someone put it to me, Straka had already “put the cat among the pigeons” when landing his third PGA Tour victory in The American Express just over a fortnight ago and the Austrian, albeit being unable to convert a 54-hole lead on this occasion, produced another strong performance in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am.
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Hide AdHaving secured a pick on merit for Rome, he is definitely a strong contender once again, as, of course, MacIntyre will be aiming to be and, though dropping three spots to 17th in the world rankings since the start of the year wasn’t in his early-season gameplan, there is certainly no need for anyone - himself in particular - to be reaching for a panic button.
The main thing for the Oban is that he knows he’s in all the big events in 2025 and, therefore, one really huge week or two or three solid ones in either the majors or the PGA Tour Signature events could get the job done for him in terms of qualifying automatically again and, make no mistake, that is definitely his target once more because it would have been a close call indeed if he’d needed a pick in 2023.
MacIntyre would be the first to admit himself that he’s not guaranteed anything in terms of Bethpage Black and, as Straka in particular has signified, he is going to face stiff competition from lots of good players over the next few months, but it’s a challenge he is relishing because, understandably so, the Scot believes he is currently one of the top 12 European players.
Pavon, through his performance in the Team Cup in Abu Dhabi last month, had already caught my eye as a potential rookie for this year’s contest and Canter, having been on the winning Great Britain and Ireland side in that and now landing a second DP World Tour win in the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship on Sunday, is another one to keep a close eye on in that respect over the coming few months.
I’m not sure it gets the juices flowing in the same way on the other side of the Atlantic, but, boy, is a qualification battle for the European team for the Ryder Cup exciting.
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