DALLAS — The United States Olympic golf team is set.
It does not, however, include the newest United States Open champion.
Bryson DeChambeau, a Grapevine resident, didn't make the squad of four golfers that will represent America at the Paris Games later this summer. Dallas' Scottie Scheffler will lead the way for the U.S., alongside Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele.
The Olympic qualifying was based on the Official World Golf Rankings, with players in the top 15 earning a spot, and then the two highest-ranked players from each country beyond that. The wrinkle that snubbed DeChambeau was two-fold: While he currently ranks 10th in the world, the Olympics set a maximum of four players per country, and Scheffler, Morikawa, Clark and Schauffele are all ranked ahead of DeChambeau.
But the broader point goes back to the ever-present rift in professional golf at the moment.
Outside of the four major tournaments, DeChambeau plays on the LIV tour, which isn't yet eligible for Official Golf World Rankings points. Had DeChambeau played well in only a handful more of rankings-eligible events, he likely would have earned enough points to climb into one of the four U.S. Olympic spots.
The Internet isn't exactly happy with how things shook out.
No one has an issue with Scheffler and Schauffele making the team - the reigning Masters and PGA champions, respectively, more than earned their spot. And Morikawa has been competitive in this year's majors as well.
The beef seems to be on DeChambeau missing the cut, while Clark punched his ticket. Technically, Clark is ranked ahead of Morikawa, so he wasn't the fourth and final golfer to make the team. And if Morikawa didn't have the ranking to make the team, the final spot would have gone to Patrick Cantlay, who is also ranked ahead of DeChambeau among the Americans.
But all the rankings semantics aside, the backlash is understandable: DeChambeau just won the U.S. Open, finished second at the PGA Championship in May and was tied for sixth at the Masters in April.
Clark is no slouch -- he won the U.S. Open last year and won at Pebble Beach this February. But Clark has also struggled of late on the biggest stage, missing the cut at the Masters and PGA and finishing tied for 56th at the U.S. Open.
In any case, the USA Golf team announcement on X drew plenty of questions and complaints in the replies.
The LIV-PGA TOUR drama might be coming to an end. Reports began circulating last week that the two sides had come to a draft agreement on their proposed merger, which was announced last year. The details of the agreement -- and how it could or could not affect things like the world rankings -- remains to be seen.
