Tiger Woods makes big move up Ryder Cup standings

Tiger Woods may not have earned the win he coveted on Sunday, but his fourth-place finish at the Quicken Loans National did earn him one important distinction: Biggest mover in the U.S. Ryder Cup top 40. Woods moved up 11 spots to No. 28 in the latest Ryder Cup standings announced Monday, his first time in the top 30 since reaching a 2018 high of No. 24 after consecutive top-5 finishes in March. His tie for fourth at TPC Potomac in Maryland -- which earned Woods more than $300,000 -- was his second-best finish of the season, behind only his tie for second at the Valspar Championship in March. American Ryan Armour, runner-up at the Quicken Loans National, made the biggest jump within the top 100, going from No. 81 to No. 47. The top 15 remained the same, with Brooks Koepka holding the top spot, followed by Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau for the eight automatic spots on the team. Webb Simpson is the first golfer off the cut line, sitting less than 170 points behind DeChambeau. The top eight spots will be determined based on points following the 100th PGA Championship scheduled to conclude Aug. 12. Three additional spots will be named by captain Jim Furyk following the Dell Technologies Championship scheduled to finish on Sept. 3, with the final spot scheduled to be announced after the BMW Championship slated to be completed on Sept. 9. Woods was named a vice captain by Furyk in February, but said at the time that his goal was to earn a spot playing on the team as well. The four majors in 2018 are weighted heavily in the U.S. Ryder Cup team points race, with winners receiving two points per $1,000 earned at the Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship, and all other players receiving 1.5 points per $1,000 earned. That's compared to one point per every $1,000 earned in regular PGA Tour events in 2018 leading up to the Aug. 12 cutoff. The 42nd Ryder Cup will be held at Le Golf National in Paris this September. Future venues include Whistling Straits in Haven, Wis., in 2020; the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome in '22; and Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y., in '24. Europe has yet to announce the home courses for the 2026 and '30 Ryder Cups. After returning to Hazeltine (Chaska, Minn.) in '28, the next U.S. course will be The Olympic Club in San Francisco in 2032. --Field Level Media