Phil Mickelson vaults into top 50, Ryder Cup picture
The list of perks that come with winning the PGA Championship continue to flow in for Phil Mickelson.
The newly-minted oldest major winner in history vaulted 83 spots to No. 32 in the Official World Golf Rankings and 36 spots to No. 16 in the United States Ryder Cup team rankings on Monday.
Being inside the top 50 in the world is the threshold for entry into all the premier tournaments, including majors and World Golf Championship events. Mickelson fell out of the top 50 in November 2019 for the first time in 26 years, a record streak of 1,353 weeks.
He briefly returned to the top 50, but by this March he had fallen outside of the top 100 for the first time in 28 years, breaking another record streak of 1,425 weeks.
Mickelson dropped as low as 116th entering the PGA Championship, where he was considered an extreme longshot, having failed to post a top-20 finish in his previous 17 worldwide starts outside of the Champions tour.
With his victory at the PGA, the 50-year-old also launched himself back into the Ryder Cup conversation.
At No. 16, he is still unlikely to earn one of the top six automatic spots. However, Steve Stricker will also have six captain's picks, and Mickelson has played on every U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team since 1994.
Mickelson is now a -185 favorite to make the U.S. team by SportsBetting.ag, implying a 64.9 percent probability he will play in the Ryder Cup.
The U.S. will take on Team Europe at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in September's Ryder Cup, which was postponed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stricker will make his captain's picks after the Tour Championship in August.
The top six spots are currently occupied by Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele. Patrick Reed, Tony Finau, Daniel Berger and Webb Simpson round out the top 10, followed by Jordan Spieth and Billy Horschel.
Still well outside the picture is Rickie Fowler, another Ryder Cup veteran who sits 39th in the standings. He did rise 27 spots to No. 101 in the world rankings with his T8 at the PGA Championship.
However, a bogey on the 72nd hole cost Fowler an automatic spot in next year's Masters and a return inside the top 100. He failed to qualify to play at Augusta National this year.
Koepka climbed six spots to No. 7 with his tie for second at Kiawah Island on Sunday, knocking Simpson out of the top 10 and bumping Reed, Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton each down a spot as well.
Louis Oosthuizen rose 11 spots to No. 20 as he tied with Koepka two shots behind Mickelson.
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