These 6 Golfers Surprisingly Never Played in the Ryder Cup
First held in 1927, the Ryder Cup is a biennial team golf match that pits the best players from the United States against the top players from Europe. Players have been selected for these teams based on a variety of criteria, including prize money won and points in the Official World Golf Ranking. Team captains have also been able to select players.
American Phil Mickelson holds the record for most Ryder Cup appearances with 12, while Lee Westwood and Nick Faldo have each represented Team Europe 11 times. The majority of the world's best golfers have played in the event; Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Seve Ballesteros have all served as team captains, while Tiger Woods has played in eight Ryder Cups.
However, there are several world-class players, including a few major champions, who have somewhat surprisingly not played in the Ryder Cup.
John Daly
American John Daly is arguably the greatest golfer to never play in the Ryder Cup. In fact, he is the only two-time major champion that was never selected to represent the United States in the prestigious event. Daly, 59, won the 1991 PGA Championship and 1995 Open Championship. He also won three other tournaments on the PGA Tour and had 23 top-five finishes.
While Daly had the accolades and talent to represent the US, many—including the man himself—believe he wasn't selected for the Ryder Cup due to his "bad boy" persona, which is in stark contrast to the polished image and reputation of some of the game's biggest stars. Daly sported a mullet when he won the Open Championship, often wore eccentric outfits, and battled alcohol addiction and depression throughout his career. He believes, at the very least, that he should have been picked in 1991 and 2004.
"Those are the two years that I know I really, really could’ve helped the U.S. I was playing probably the best golf of my life those two years," Daly said in an interview in 2020. "It hurts a little bit. But in the early 90s, some of the things I did probably didn't earn the respect from the players. I don't blame them."
Kevin Kisner
Kevin Kisner is another talented American golfer who surprisingly hasn't played in the Ryder Cup. The 41-year-old has won four tournaments on the PGA Tour, including the 2021 Wyndham Championship, and made nearly $30 million in career earnings. He also has 10 second-place finishes and 28 top-five results.
Kisner did, however, represent the US in the 2017 Presidents Cup, a similar team event featuring the best American players against the top international players outside of Europe.
Søren Kjeldsen
Danish golfer Søren Kjeldsen is one of the most notable European omissions at the Ryder Cup. While he never won a major championship, he won four times on the European Tour and has top-10 finishes at the Masters, PGA Championship, and The Open Championship. In 2024, he became only the third player to play in 712 tournaments on the DP World Tour.
Kjeldsen has had some success on the international stage, most notably winning the 2016 ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf with Thorbjørn Olesen, one of four Danes to play in the Ryder Cup.
Gary Woodland
Another major champion who hasn't played in the Ryder Cup, Gary Woodland won the U.S. Open in 2019 and has top-15 finishes at the Masters, PGA Championship, and The Open Championship. He was ranked as high as No. 12 in the world after winning the 20190U.S. Open and, just before the pandemic in March 2020, was third in U.S. Ryder Cup qualification standings. However, with the Ryder Cup delayed a year until 2021, Woodland fell way outside of the top eight automatic qualification spots.
After being diagnosed with a brain lesion, Woodland underwent successful brain surgery in September 2023 and returned to the PGA Tour full-time in January 2024. He received the PGA Tour Courage Award in 2025. Woodland has four career victories, 30 top-five finishes, and has won more than $35 million on the PGA Tour. He finished second at the Texas Children's Houston Open in March 2025.
Billy Horschel
Despite his success in the match play format and some big victories, American Billy Horschel has yet to participate in the Ryder Cup. Horschel was conspicuously left off the American team in 2014 and later went on to win the FedExCup that year as the highest points earner on the PGA Tour. He also won the BMW Championship, one of the final tournaments of the season, in 2021, but the US team was already finalized at that point.
Horschel, who has won the WGC-Matchplay Championship twice, is an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour. He also has 33 top-five finishes and earned more than $41 million in prize money.
Rasmus Højgaard
Rasmus Højgaard's twin brother, Nicolai, is one of the four Danes to play for Europe at the Ryder Cup, having played in 2023 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy. Rasmus attended the tournament and helped out as a cart driver but could be playing in the near future. He recently earned his PGA Tour card in 2024 after finishing first on the DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking.