- Johnson won a LIV event in Tulsa, but struggled in major championship play
- Meanwhile, Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship and at LIV Orlando
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Dustin Johnson contends he would have been selected to this year’s United States Ryder Cup team had he not defected to LIV Golf.
Instead, the two-time major champion finds himself as a spectator despite being a part of five American teams. The Ryder Cup will be contested at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, starting on Sept. 29.
Johnson maintains this belief despite the fact that Brooks Koepka, a fellow LIV Golf defector was one of the golfers USA captain Zach Johnson handpicked for the competition.
‘I would love to be a part of the team,’ Johnson, 39, told The Palm Beach Post. ‘But to be honest, I haven’t really played that well this year.
‘But have I played well enough to be on the team? Yeah. I didn’t have the best year. Was it good enough to make the team? I think so.
Dustin Johnson believes his LIV Golf defection is what kept him off the USA Ryder Cup team
This is despite fellow LIV golfer Brooks Koepka being selected as a ‘captain’s pick’
Johnson, pictured here with now-wife Pauline Gretzky, was part of five Ryder Cup teams
‘If I would have been playing on (the PGA Tour), yeah, I would have made the team. Do I think I can help the U.S. team? Absolutely.’
Johnson, who joined the Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit in June 2022, was not selected by U.S. captain Zach Johnson despite the former recording five Top 10 finishes this season.
That included a win at LIV’s event in Tulsa, a fifth place finish at the event in London, and two more top-tens in Orlando and Adelaide.
He didn’t fare well in the majors, however, with his T-10 finish at the U.S. Open being the best of the lot. He posted a T-48 at the Masters, T-55 at the PGA and missed the cut at The Open Championship.
‘If I would have played a little better at the majors, I think I definitely would have had a really good chance to be on the team,’ Dustin Johnson said. ‘But just struggled a little bit in the majors this year, which happens.’
As for Koepka, not only did he win the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, he also finished tied for second at The Masters, won at LIV’s Orlando tournament and finished inside the top-five at LIV events in Singapore, Tulsa, and Andalucia.
