Webb Simpson is USA team’s last man in for the 2014 Ryder Cup

Had the captain’s pick selection process occurred a couple weeks later, it’s very likely that Webb Simpson would not be on the American Ryder Cup team. Simspon was, by all accounts, the 12th and final member to sneak onto the roster. He was the third captain’s selection by Tom Watson back on September 2, when the debate was primarily between he and Chris Kirk, who had just won the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.

In the intervening weeks, of course, Billy Horschel has emerged as the hottest player on the planet, finishing second in Boston and then winning the final two FedEx Cup events to take home the grand prize $10 million. If the captain’s picks were delayed until the end of the postseason, he would certainly have made the team and Simpson would have likely been the one staying home.

But here he is, catching the plane ride to Scotland for his fourth straight international team competition. Simpson has been one of the better, more consistent American players over the past five or so years, and he’s been on every one of these 12-man rosters since the 2011 Presidents Cup. This is going to be his first away game in the Ryder Cup, and that’s the most intense, scrutinized setting in golf. To make matters more disconcerting, he’s not exactly at the top of his game. Simpson won the Shriners in Las Vegas waaaaay back in October of 2013, ending a winless drought from his 2012 U.S. Open title at Olympic. He had nine top 10 finishes in 25 events, but he never really contended or made much noise on the first page of the leaderboard after that fall series win.

Simpson is certainly one of the better and younger American players, and he’s already accomplished at 29 years old. It’s just that this season he didn’t have a great case to be on the team -- he was just the best of a lot of bad and mediocre captain’s pick options (before Horschel became an obvious would-be choice). That doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t succeed. He went 2-2 at Medinah and has a good record in the Presidents Cup, particularly in 2011 when he was paired up with Bubba Watson in the “Christian Connection” and steamrolled the Internationals during the two-man games.

Simpson is a candidate to be left on the bench by Watson for a couple of the sessions during the first two days, but when he does play, expect Webb to play a lot with Bubba again this year -- he’s probably one of the few who can stand it.

Age: 29
World ranking: 33
Ryder Cup record (Win-Loss-Halve): 2-2
Past Ryder Cup appearance: 2012
How he qualified: Captain’s pick by Tom Watson