Three American players who could surprise everyone and make a very late run for the Ryder Cup team

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The Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black is now only two months away.

Keegan Bradley and his US team will be desperate to wrestle the Ryder Cup trophy back from the Europeans.

Bradley will have a few big decisions to make in September. Right now, the race for the final three or four spots in the US Ryder Cup team is wide open.

Big names like Collin Morikawa are in real danger of missing out on a Ryder Cup place due to poor form.

That could leave the door open to lesser known names forcing their way into the team.

Bradley could become the first American Ryder Cup playing captain since Arnold Palmer performed both roles way back in 1963.

However, the biggest calls the 39-year-old will have to make is when he is tasked with naming his six captain’s picks for the showdown at Bethpage Black.

Three American players could surprise everyone and make the Ryder Cup team

There is still plenty of golf to be played before Bradley has to decide on his 12 players.

And three players stand out right now as potentially late additions on Bradley’s team.

Firstly, the man of the moment – Chris Gotterup. The 26-year-old has been in sensational form over the past two weeks, with a win at The Scottish Open and a third-place finish at The Open.

Gotterup shot an opening round of 63 at the 3M Open on Thursday as well. Despite being ranked down in 22nd on the points list, Gotterup is being tipped for a place on the US Ryder Cup team.

He looks like he has the game and just as importantly, the mentality needed to be a huge success at the Ryder Cup.

Next up, we have Rickie Fowler. The 36-year-old has just started to show some form, with four top-25s in his last six PGA Tour events including a tie for 14th at The Open.

The six-time PGA Tour winner is currently down in 42nd spot in the Ryder Cup standings, so he will probably need a win to be considered by Bradley, but he’s more than capable of doing just that.

Fowler was actually tipped to be a Ryder Cup vice-captain but who knows, maybe he could still be a playing member of the team.

Finally, we have the mercurial Jordan Spieth. Yes, he has been poor for his standards this season, but a quick look at his stats shows that he has made big improvements from last year off the tee, with his approaches to greens and his overall game in general.

Spieth is absolute box office on his day, and he would bring a real energy to the US team-room at Bethpage.

It was only two months ago when Spieth said he still has ambitions to return to number one in the world, and if he can get anywhere near the form he displayed a decade ago over the next few weeks, he will definitely be on the US team come September.

Current US Ryder Cup standings

The US Ryder Cup standings are far from set in stone right now.

The top seven or eight seem to be absolute locks to be at Bethpage, while the remaining spots are wide open.

Here is how the top six looks at the moment:

And then the players ranked from 7th-16th:

Spieth is obviously nowhere to be seen on that list. He’s actually languishing down in 26th place right now.

However, the 31-year-old’s experience at the Ryder Cup combined with the way in which he is capable of raising his game for the big occasions means that he must be on Bradley’s mind for a captain’s pick.

That said, Spieth will most likely have to put in good showings at the Wyndham Championship next week, and at the FedEx St Jude Classic the week after if he is to get into the team, and the same can be said for Fowler.

Bradley could do a lot worse than having Spieth, Fowler and Gotterup on his Ryder Cup team, that’s for sure.