Get Familiar with Andrew Novak, He Might be at Bethpage Black in September

It’s never too early to look at the point standings during a Ryder Cup year. I’m always looking for a few surprising names or exciting young stars who could make an appearance for Team USA. In my mind, the names I was looking for were Akshay Bhatia (currently ranked 20th), Sahith Theegala (26th), and Jake Knapp (33rd).

But I was not expecting to see Andrew Novak sitting in the No. 9 spot after his win at the Zurich Classic alongside partner Ben Griffin.

It was a feel-good moment for both players, as they’ve each come close to winning a few PGA TOUR events in the last 18 months but have been unable to get one across the finish line. So, they teamed up at TPC Louisiana and broke their winless streaks together. Pretty cool stuff.

But Novak has put himself in a position to don red, white, and blue at Bethpage Black in late September.

In 14 starts this season, the 30-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina, has made eight cuts, grabbed four top-10 finishes, and finished T-3, second, and first in his last three appearances. Not too shabby.

If he keeps putting together productive weeks for the rest of the season and stays inside the top 10 of the point standings, he’ll give Keegan Bradley a lot to think about.

As of April 28, here’s how the top of the United States Ryder Cup point standings is looking.

Team USA Ryder Cup Point Standings

1. Scottie Scheffler

2. Xander Schauffele

3. Collin Morikawa

4. Bryson DeChambeau

5. Russell Henley

6. Justin Thomas

7. Maverick McNealy

8. Brian Harman

9. Andrew Novak

10. J.J. Spaun

11. Patrick Cantlay

12. Harris English

Big Names Who Need to Get it Going

If Captain Bradley were to pick the team today and grab those 12 names listed above, there’s a lot of inexperience on that squad. But the biggest issue for me is the lack of scary names.

Of course, Scheffler, Schauffele, Morikawa, DeChambeau, and Thomas are in there, but the rest of those names wouldn’t exactly instill fear in the Europeans. Some of the American stars have some serious work to do if they want to earn a spot on this year’s team.

Wyndham Clark (currently ranked 17th)

Tony Finau (18th)

Max Homa (25th)

Sam Burns (28th)

Jordan Spieth (32nd)

Will Zalatoris (42nd)

Rickie Fowler (63rd)

Brooks Koepka (86th)

Photo: Getty Images

Bradley could scroll down a few pages to fill out his team with better-known names, but it’s hard to ignore all those dudes playing great golf. Doesn’t seem like something that Bradley would do. He wants to win too badly.

There’s plenty of time for the American stalwarts to get it going, but as of right now, there are more questions than answers for Team USA.

(It also doesn’t help that Europeans have dominated the early part of the season and might put out one of the best Ryder Cup squads in their history.)