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Jim Furyk next to Ryder Cup Trophy
The United States has tried different captains, different pairings and plenty of motivational speeches while spending more than three decades unsuccessfully attempting to win a Ryder Cup in Europe. Now it is changing the math used to determine who automatically makes the team.
The PGA of America unveiled a completely revamped American qualification system Wednesday that eliminates results from the previous year and severs Ryder Cup points from PGA Tour prize money. The new qualifying system will count exactly 31 tournaments, all played in 2027, before Jim Furyk takes his team to Ireland trying to end a road drought that will have reached 34 years.
The U.S. Basically Deleted A Year Of Ryder Cup Qualifying
Under the system used for the 2025 Ryder Cup, American golfers could start accumulating points during the previous season.
Players earned one Ryder Cup point for every $1,000 made at the four 2024 majors and Players Championship. Once 2025 arrived, most PGA Tour events awarded one point per $1,000 earned, while majors were worth 1.5 points per $1,000.
That is gone. Nobody earns a single 2027 Ryder Cup point in 2026.
Qualification instead begins at The American Express in January and ends at the BMW Championship in August, with the top six Americans automatically making the team. Furyk then gets six captain’s picks after the Tour Championship.
The other major change is ditching money as the measuring stick.
Golf Digest explained that rising PGA Tour purses, particularly at Signature Events, made prize money an increasingly awkward proxy for Ryder Cup performance. The new system assigns fixed point totals based on tournament type and finishing position instead.
A major winner gets 3,000 points. The Players winner gets 2,850. Signature Event and playoff winners receive 2,250, while winners of normal full-field PGA Tour events get 1,500 (opposite-field events get nothing).
Essentially, the United States built its own Ryder Cup currency instead of letting actual dollars determine the standings.
Thirty-Four Years Is A Long Time To Keep Trying The Same Thing
There is a pretty obvious reason to experiment.
When the Ryder Cup arrives at Adare Manor in Ireland next September, it will have been 34 years since the United States last won on European soil.
That victory came at The Belfry in England in 1993, when Tom Watson’s team rallied in Sunday singles for a 15-13 win. The PGA Tour history shows every American trip to Europe since has ended without the Cup coming home.
The U.S. lost in Spain in 1997, England in 2002, Ireland in 2006, Wales in 2010, Scotland in 2014, France in 2018 and Italy in 2023.
Seven trips. Zero wins.
Furyk knows this particular pain pretty well. He captained the 2018 American team that got hammered 17.5-10.5 outside Paris, and now he gets another opportunity to solve a problem that has survived generations of American stars.