Who is in contention for Ryder Cup wildcard picks?

Rahm has picked up 6½ points in his past two Ryder Cup appearances for Europe

The United States team is known - now it's Luke Donald's turn to choose his wildcard picks and finalise Europe's plans for the 45th Ryder Cup.

US captain Keegan Bradley revealed his hand on Wednesday for the match which will be held from 26-28 September at Bethpage Black in New York.

He resisted the urge to select himself in a playing role as he named the six players who will join the six automatic qualifiers.

Europe's qualification process concluded after the British Masters on 24 August, with Denmark's Rasmus Hojgaard claiming the final automatic spot.

He joined Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton, while captain Donald will announce his six wildcards on 1 September.

Hojgaard in as Donald mulls picks

Rasmus Hojgaard was the only player capable of knocking Shane Lowry out of the automatic qualification spots at the British Masters and the Dane dutifully did just that.

He needed a top-29 finish and finished joint 13th.

McIntyre confirmed his spot in the Europe team by finishing runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at the PGA Tour's BMW Championship on 17 August, the final qualifying event for American players. The world number eight was second at June's US Open and seventh at last month's Open.

"Bob has put in some big performances on both sides of the Atlantic this season, and that fine form combined with his experience from 2023 will be invaluable in New York," said Donald of the Scot who contributed 2½ points from three Ryder Cup matches in Rome.

The European team should be brimming with confidence given Fleetwood secured his maiden PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship, while Rose also claimed a victory in the end-of-season play-offs at the St Jude Championship and McIlroy is still smiling from completing the career Grand Slam at the Masters in April.

Six places are left up for grabs though, with Donald facing some tough choices.

Spain's Jon Rahm, who won the LIV Golf individual title for a second successive year, looks nailed on for a wildcard spot, while Sweden's Ludvig Aberg and Norwegian Viktor Hovland are also likely to be in the 12-strong team.

Lowry also looks a certain pick given he only just missed out on automatic qualification.

Sepp Straka finished just below Lowry. but above Aberg and Hovland in the standings. He has won twice on the PGA Tour this season but his recent form has tailed off a little.

Will Donald go for experience or new blood in what is likely to be a boisterous atmosphere in New York?

Matt Fitzpatrick revealed Donald urged him to play at the British Masters, and the Englishman had an excellent start to the tournament. He led by one going into the final round before fading on Sunday.

And while Fitzpatrick's Ryder Cup record is poor, with just one win and seven defeats across three contests, he did win the 2022 US Open.

Rasmus' twin brother Nicolai may be in the reckoning. He went close at the Belfry and has the experience of having played in the victory in Rome in 2023.

And could Alex Noren have played his way into contention with victory at the British Masters? The 43-year-old Swede missed seven months of qualification with a hamstring injury but although he served a timely reminder of his quality, it seems unlikely.

Meanwhile, two Englishmen in Harry Hall and Marco Penge have staked their claims to make Ryder Cup debuts.

Hall has impressed on the PGA Tour, with five top-10s, and he finished sixth at last week's BMW Championship to qualify for the Tour Championship. Prior to that event he had racked up 409 birdies this year, 45 more than any other player.

Penge climbed to 14th in the standings by beating Rasmus Hojgaard by one stroke to claim the DP World Tour's Danish Golf Championship earlier in August, his second title of the season.

Europe, who won 16½-11½ in Rome two years ago, are looking to become the first away side to win since they triumphed at Medinah in 2012.

DeChambeau and Scheffler lead Bradley's strong US team

Six American automatic qualifiers were confirmed following the conclusion of the last qualifying event, the BMW Championship.

World number one Scheffler won the US PGA Championship and Open to qualify with ease, and he also added the BMW Championship title in August.

JJ Spaun, who won the US Open to claim his first major, after being beaten to the Players Championship title in a play-off by McIlroy, had also already qualified.

As had Xander Schauffele, who won the US PGA and Open in 2024. He has had a quieter 2025, although he extended his run of not missing a cut to 58 events - the longest since Tiger Woods set the record at 142. However, he did not qualify for the season-ending 30-man Tour Championship.

English and Henley rubber-stamped their spots in August, while DeChambeau, who plays on the LIV Golf circuit, qualified thanks to six top-10 finishes in the majors during the 17-month qualification period.

Captain Bradley had shown sufficient form this year to justify including himself, as his world number 11 ranking proves, and at one point he was leaning towards playing.

However, he announced on Wednesday that his role would be strictly as captain.

Arnold Palmer remains the Ryder Cup's last playing captain, when he led the US team, aged 34, in 1963.

Major champions Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa were among those to miss out on automatic qualification for the US team, but both were called in as wildcard picks by Bradley, along with Ben Griffin, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young and Sam Burns.