After Ryan Gerard took third place in the Tour Championship — the big-money season finale in which he beat every member of the U.S. Presidents Cup team not named Scottie Scheffler — was asked where he was headed to start his offseason. The answer, it turned out, was at another golf tournament.
“I’m going to have a red eye here in a couple of hours to play DP World Tour next week,” he said. “We are ready to grind. The season is not over for me. Frustrated with some of the results, very positive, but still work remains to be done.”
Gerard teed off in the final pair on Sunday at East Lake alongside Viktor Hovland and shot a final round of two-over 72 – a score that left him four behind Scheffler and one back of Hovland, which left him in a good spot but still wondering what could have been.
However, he felt he had done enough to be considered for one of the six captain’s choices by US captain Brandt Snedeker. That also fed into his Eurotrip.
“Full transparency, if I get a spot in the Presidents Cup, I’d like to be a little more prepared. I like to play a lot of golf. And if I don’t, I’ll probably stay here and play Wentworth and the French Open after that.”
When Gerard arrived in Switzerland, the United States had finalized his list – and he was not on it. Despite a strong summer — five top-25s and three top-10s in his last six starts — he finished 16th on the points list, and his Tour Championship result wasn’t enough to leapfrog those above him. Snedeker’s picks instead include several veterans (Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas, who have a combined 20-7-2 Presidents Cup record), Jacob Bridgeman (who had a hot start to the year, finished with a strong playoff run and ranked 12th in points) and Jackson Koivun (who burst onto the scene with a win in the future).
So Gerard plowed ahead with his European plan instead.
He didn’t play particularly well that week at the Omega European Masters, finishing T30 playing his sixth straight week. But after sitting out last week, he came into this week’s BMW PGA Championship completely reset, he said — and it showed with an opening round five-under 67 that put him just one shot off the lead.
“Really nice,” Gerard said of his week off. “A lot of sleep. It feels good to be fresh this week. So, excited to keep playing, but it’s been a good week off.”
The BMW PGA Championship is the flagship event of the DP World Tour – its equivalent to the PGA Tour’s Players Championship – and because it contributes to its four DPWT starts this year, Gerard, who prides himself as a global golfer, will also keep the membership for next season.
“It’s great. I feel like we had some great crowds today. I don’t know if they were watching us or just waiting for Rory (McIlroy) to come behind us, but a lot of people are really stoked to be here and that’s great,” said Gerard. “You can feel the energy. It’s a great tournament. It’s very well run from top to bottom, and they’re doing a great job of treating it like a flagship event.”
In other words, he is very happy to be here.
Interestingly, Gerard is not the only Presidents Cup player who could have played at Wentworth. Patrick Reed opened with 68; is the current points leader in the DPWT’s Race to Dubai, but has spent this year serving a PGA Tour suspension, meaning he has played a poor schedule and not done enough to earn a pick.
There’s also JJ Spaun, who finished 10th in points but withdrew from the Tour Championship, which no doubt hindered his candidacy. Finally there is Alex Smalley, whose season culminated in May with a T2 at the PGA Championship; landed at No. 18 in the US team standings.
Spaun and Smalley shot 70 on Thursday.
Because of its place on the calendar, the BMW PGA can serve as a reminder of how much talent is left out of the Ryder or Presidents Cup teams. Last year, Alex Noren beat the entire European Ryder Cup team en route to victory at Wentworth – but he had already been left out of the team and instead went to Bethpage Black as assistant captain.
Gerard will not serve in that capacity next week. Instead, we expect him to have a tee time – only that it will be at Le Golf National instead of Medinah. But a trip to contention this week would at least have Team USA leadership wondering who they’ll let slip across the pond.
“>
