Hunter Mahan makes his Ryder Cup return for team USA

For most of the year, Hunter Mahan was a longshot to make the American Ryder Cup team. He languished near the middle of the standings, somewhere around 25th to 30th in points and never really did much to make you think he’d be a part of 12-man envoy to Scotland.

But things changed quickly in August, and Mahan emerged as a likely captain’s pick, one of the better options out of many bad and mediocre ones for Tom Watson. Mahan is a veteran of these match play events, but he missed out on the 2012 roster at Medinah when his season went south over the second half of the summer. Mahan faded at the wrong time, and a mainstay on these teams was one of the last guys out. This year was the opposite, as he came from behind and finished with a T15 at the Bridgestone Invitational, a T7 at the PGA Championship, and a win at The Barclays, the FedEx Cup playoffs opener. Those three solid results at three of the bigger tournaments were enough to lock up a captain’s selection by Labor Day.

Mahan, like Webb Simpson, is probably happy the captain’s picks were announced back on September 2, because based on his recent play, he might have been bounced from the roster. We know Billy Horschel would have made the team based on his work winning two tournaments and the $10 million FedEx Cup in the intervening weeks. Horschel likely would have knocked Simpson out, and then Chris Kirk, another streaking player through the postseason may have overtaken Mahan, who finished the the FEC 64th, T59, and 23rd (out of 30).

Tom Watson is big fan of Mahan, citing him, and his omission from the 2012 team, specifically when he was named captain last year. It may have been part of the reason why he trimmed his picks from four to three, because he felt a process that left Mahan off the points qualification wasn’t quite correct. And Mahan has proven to be successful in this format, especially out at the WGC Match Play event, where he’s won it all and is always making a deep run through the bracket.

This is Hunter’s third Ryder Cup, and he’s one of the few Americans who can say he’s won one over the last 25 years. Mahan was an integral part of that 2008 victory at Valhalla, bombing in a putt to win his singles match and set an early tone on Sunday.

He was also the guy who flubbed a chip in the critical decisive match of 2010, the last time the Cup was held in Europe. Mahan came up short against Graeme McDowell, who clinched the cup with his win in the final Sunday singles match. That left Mahan in tears at the press conference afterwards, one of the rougher scenes in recent US Ryder Cup history.

Mahan is another floater who could really be paired with anyone. He’s one of the best ball-strikers and iron players in the world. He’s been paired with a similar ball-striker in Zach Johnson in the past.

Age: 32
World ranking: 21
Ryder Cup record (Win-Loss-Halve): 3-2-3
Past Ryder Cup appearance: 2008, 2010
How he qualified: Captain’s pick (finished 25th in points standings)