Rickie Fowler needed the kind of Thursday he had at Bethpage Black, and he needs three more days just like it to potentially earn one of eight automatic spots on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Fowler opened The Barclays with 4-under 67, leaving him a shot behind co-leaders Patrick Reed and Martin Laird after Round 1 of the playoff opener. Coming into the week ranked 12th in the points standings, some 366 points behind, of all people, Reed for the eighth spot.

A two-year process to make Davis Love III’s American team comes down to this week.

“That’s the No. 1 priority coming into the year,” Fowler said. “I’d say that’s always one of the main goals for sure coming into a Ryder Cup year.”

After a lackluster showing at the men’s Olympic golf tournament, which didn’t offer Ryder Cup points, Fowler added the Wyndham Championship in hoping of stacking some points that might land him on the team or make the task this week easier. A T-22 effort in Greensboro, N.C., didn’t help his standing.

The math this week, which marks the end of automatic qualifying, isn’t all that simple, but the minimum standard is clear. At 1 point per $1,000 earned this week, Fowler needs at least $366,000. At a minimum, Fowler needs to finish alone in fourth place — and that’s if Reed tumbles and misses the cut. That’s a lot of pressure.

“I’m thinking about it,” Fowler said. “The other guys are thinking about it. So if it’s even on your mind at all, not that it’s pressure in a way, but it’s more to think about.”

Even if Fowler comes up short this week on points, he can still do enough to impress Love and earn one of four captain’s picks to round out the team. Putting together four rounds would be a good start.

“I think the Ryder Cup speaks for itself. It’s the greatest team event we have. It’s arguably the best event we have all year, or every two years,” Fowler said. “It’s a special event and something I don’t want to miss out on.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

Jordan Spieth started his FedEx Cup title defense in earnest on Thursday, shooting even-par 71 in his first competitive round at Bethpage Black on Long Island.

This is the first time The Black has hosted the playoff curtain-lifter since 2012, before Spieth was a PGA Tour member. After getting a few days to learn the A.W. Tillinghast design and playing it in Round 1, Spieth has come to realize there’s a warning sign before the first tee for a reason.

“It’s up there in the top few toughest courses I’ve ever played,” Spieth said. “If they made the greens firm today, it would have been unplayable on a few holes. It was very tough, challenging, but fair today. We just had it really, really tough in the afternoon with those winds so high.”

And that’s saying something considering this year’s major championship lineup included Oakmont Country Club, one of the world’s most difficult courses — a fact Spieth acknowledged ahead of the tournament.

“Oakmont is obviously challenging any time we play a U.S. Open, it’s tough,” he said. “But as far as an everyday-type golf course, obviously they grow the rough up here more than unusual. … You don’t have to do too much to [Bethpage Black]. You grow the rough up; you’ve got the fairway that bends this way or this way, and you hit into it and you’re fine. If you don’t, you’re penalized for it.”

Spieth felt that penalty down the stretch. After making three birdies in the first seven holes, he only made one more the rest of the way, on the par-5 13th. The world No. 3 knows that if he intends to move up from a tie for 33rd, five back of the lead after Round 1, he’s going to have to spend more time in the short grass.

“I think I hit seven (fairways) today, so I only hit half of them,” he said. “In order to win out here, you’ve got to hit more than that, so that’s really my takeaway today. Just need to drive the ball a bit better.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

Rory McIlroy was one of the most vocal — and blunt — pro golf voices that didn’t appear supportive of golf’s return to the Olympics. The four-time major winner said he would be watching the “sports that matter,” rather than golf’s first Olympic event in 112 years.

As it turns out, McIlroy didn’t get to see much of the Olympics. He was in upstate New York with his future in-laws in a cabin with no TV. However, McIlroy did get to see the finale of the Justin Rose-Henrik Stenson tussle in Rio. Between seeing the atmosphere and hearing from the players who participated, McIlroy was happy to admit he wasn’t quite right about golf and the Olympics.

“Obviously it pleasantly surprised me,” McIlroy said Wednesday at The Barclays on Long Island. “There was more people at the golf events than there was at the athletics. It was good to see, it really was. It seems like it was a great atmosphere down there. I think it was one of the cheaper tickets, as well, and I think that encouraged a lot of people to go.”

The crowds were good for the men’s final round on Sunday, with a sell-out crowd lining the Olympic Golf Course. That’s not something McIlroy expected to see.

“It was nice to be proven wrong somewhat,” McIlroy said. “I thought golf was sort of going to get lost a little bit. It was away from the (Olympic) village; I thought it was going to, yeah, just sort of blend in with everything else and be, not forgotten about, but just one of a lot of sports that are there obviously.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

Alright, so Jordan Spieth didn’t win a major this year, the year after winning the Masters and U.S. Open and coming up a total of four shots shy of winning the single-season Grand Slam. While that’s disappointing, Spieth has so far won twice: an eight-shot rout in the Tournament of Champions and a dramatic win at Colonial that marked his first home-state PGA Tour win.

Looking back on Wednesday at The Barclays, Spieth said he was pleased with his work.

“I think it’s been a really good season,” Spieth said at Bethpage Black. “If I have a season like this and I’m out here for 20 more years, that’s 50-some odd wins, so I’m certainly okay with that.”

Spieth notched his seventh and eighth PGA Tour wins this season, but history will likely most remember Spieth’s Masters meltdown, losing a five-shot lead with nine holes to play.

“With the close call at the Masters; I had a chance to win that one,” he said. “A little disappointing in the other three to not give myself another chance.”

Of course, there are four more tournaments this season, unfolding in the next five weeks. Spieth is the defending champion at the Tour Championship, and he’s the defending FedEx Cup champion. There’s plenty to play for in those events, and that’s before he joins with 11 other Americans to try to achieve what he has outlined as one of his top goals for the year: regaining the Ryder Cup.

“Again, I’m setting some pretty lofty goals for myself for the next six weeks, and it needs to cap off with us retaining that Ryder Cup,” he said. “That’s very much on my mind.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

Zach Johnson wasn’t interested in Olympic golf the last two weeks. In fact, he didn’t watch a shot of it, and that’s largely because he doesn’t think the game should be a part of the Olympic program in the first place.

“Oh, I didn’t watch golf,” Johnson told the New York Post. “I’d rather watch the sports that should be in the Olympics. I’d rather watch the athletes who train for four years for that one week. I’d rather watch swimming and diving, track and field — the athletes that are relevant for one week. All of our [golf] athletes are relevant 24-7, 365. I just don’t see the need for golf to be in the Olympics. Same thing with basketball. It’s relevant all the time. LeBron James, Kevin Durant? They’re relevant all the time.”

The two-time major winner’s argument was a common refrain among those who have balked at golf being an Olympic sport. Golfers dream of majors, those critics have said, not of winning medals. Those same critics posit that the only appropriate Olympic sports are the ones where the Olympics is, basically, the most important event in that sport.

Johnson said he would like to have seen amateurs representing their country in a team-based format, which could well be added for Olympic golf in Tokyo in 2020.

However, it seems Johnson’s biggest gripe with the Olympics is that it cramped the majors schedule this summer, forcing the British Open and PGA Championship to be played in a three-week span. While most players asked about it publicly at the PGA Championship reacted with ambivalence, Johnson didn’t see it that way.

“[T]he fact that it put a kink in our schedule this year irritates me,” he said. “To mess with the four tournaments that matter most because you’re at the Olympics, I’ve got a strong, strong disdain for that.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

Jordan Spieth was on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon on Monday night, part of a Big Apple promotional tour for The Barclays, the first of four FedEx Cup playoff events.

Bethpage Black is back as host of the playoff opener after a four-year absence, and that’s something Spieth and Fallon discussed. However, the conversation quickly turned to other stories, including Spieth’s video from the Texas Swing when he (on his second attempt) chipped a marshmallow that he caught in his mouth with a dive. So, Fallon, who loves playing games with his guests, asked Spieth to chip marshmallows his way in hopes that the host might snag one with his mouth.

The two-time major winner gave it four shots, with three close calls, including two hitting Fallon in the mouth before the last one hitting him right in the eye.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

The FedEx Cup playoffs are here, with The Barclays serving as curtain-lifter on the four-event series coming from Bethpage Black on Long Island.

Jason Day is the defending champion in the event, while Jordan Spieth is the defending FedEx Cup champion. A total of 125 players qualified, but only 121 are playing in this first stage.

Here are our top five players for this week:

1. Jason Day – Day is still the best player on the planet right now, and he’s playing complete golf.

2. Henrik Stenson – Could have easily made Stenson No. 1 on our list this week. He’s 42 under in his last 12 competitive rounds between the Open, the PGA and the Olympics. Sold.

3. Dustin Johnson – A missed cut at the PGA was a downer, but he was kind of due. Plenty of time to rest and return on a course where he was T-3 in 2012. Built for Bethpage.

4. Rory McIlroy – The best driver on the planet finally gets to go back to a Scotty Cameron putter. That may be the jolt he needs to get it going after a tough season.

5. Brandt Snedeker – Snedeker was runner-up here in 2012 and has been playing excellent golf of late. As Rob Bolton points out, he leads the PGA Tour in par-4 scoring, an absolutely important stat at long and demanding Bethpage.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

Tiger Woods is playing a big role in planning for the Ryder Cup.

Serving as an assistant captain to Davis Love III, Woods has apparently been spending his time off from competitive golf — which passed the one-year mark last week — trying to come up with the best possible pairings and practice pods (or groups) for the upcoming matches at Hazeltine National in September.

“Tiger was on the Task Force, he’ll be a future captain, so he’s got to be a part of the decision-making process of this whole new, Ryder Cup committee,” Love said in a diary for PGA.com.

Love and Woods were among the players named to the PGA of America-created Ryder Cup Task Force, formed after the U.S. was drubbed by the Europeans in the 2014 matches at Gleneagles in Scotland. Love, who was losing captain in 2012, got the job again as part of an effort to create continuity in leadership and set a standard moving forward. Woods, as well other members like Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk, are set to serve as vice-captains now and in future years in preparation for becoming captain.

Love clearly has confidence in Woods to take on match-making.

“Tiger is more interested in the strategy side of it — rounding out the team with picks, or making small groups, making pairings,” Love said. “He’s our tactician more than anything. And he’s really been helpful on how to prepare for a major championship. He’s like me. He’s excited about it, he doesn’t sleep much, he puts a lot of thought into it. There’s a reason why he’s arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He knows how to prepare, he knows how to think his way around a golf course, around a golf tournament. He’s committed to being a part of it and he means it.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

Nine of the 12 players who will represent Europe in the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National have been decided — and a week ahead of the cutoff.

Matt Fitzpatrick and Andy Sullivan locked up spots the two final automatic qualifying spots for the European dozen after last weekend’s D+D Real Czech Masters on the European Tour. Both players will be among the minimum five rookies that will be on captain Darren Clarke’s team. Joining them will be Rory McIlroy, Danny Willett, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Chris Wood, Justin Rose and Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who all had previously locked up spots on the European team.

Clarke will now pick three additional wild-card members of the team after this week’s European Tour event, the Made in Denmark. Among the contenders for that pick are Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Russell Knox and Shane Lowry, who is skipping out on the first leg of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs this week to compete in front of Clarke’s watchful eye in hopes of scoring a pick.

As for the Americans, The Barclays represents the final week of qualifying for one of eight automatic qualifying spots. With his T-3 at the Wyndham Championship, Brandt Snedeker jumped into the eighth spot in the money-based standings, ahead of J.B. Holmes. Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler round out the top 12, with Jim Furyk quickly charging and now in 15th position.

American captain Davis Love III will make three of his four wild-card picks on Sept. 11, following the BMW Championship, and one final selection on Sept. 25, after the Tour Championship.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return

It was a coronation on Saturday for Inbee Park, the seven-time major winner, who won the first Olympic gold medal in women’s golf in 116 years in a runaway at the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro.

The South Korean won the 60-player golf tournament by five shots on 16-under 268, the same score at which Justin Rose won the men’s gold medal six days prior.

“This really could be the highlight of my career,” Park said. “I was lucky enough to have the opportunity. We have five major tournaments a year. I’ve won a lot of the major championships. The Olympic Games you get to do it only once ever four years and golf in 112 years. It’s a huge honor and I think it could be the highlight of my golfing career.”

Park skipped the last two LPGA majors, the U.S. Women’s Open and a title defense at the Women’s British Open, to nurse a season-long nagging left thumb injury back to good enough health to compete. The gamble paid off as she dismantled the Gil Hanse-designed course, including a final round of 5-under 66.

World No. 1 Lydia Ko finished in second place at 11 under par, earning the silver medal with a birdie on the par-5 finishing hole to separate herself from bronze medalist Shanshan Feng of China.

The Kiwi Ko committed to playing aggressively in the final three holes to surge onto the second position on the leaderboard.

“At the back of your mind, unless you make a careless mistake to know that you would be able to hold a medal no matter what, I thought, wow, I can’t believe I’m here in this position,” she said.

An American didn’t finish on the medal podium in the women’s competition, though Stacy Lewis came close. She finished in a tie for fourth place with Haru Nomura of Japan and Hee Young (Amy) Yang of South Korea. Lewis was 2 inches away on her birdie putt at the 18th hole from a birdie that would have put her in a bronze-medal playoff with Feng. Earlier in the week, Nomura nearly whiffed on a 6-inch putt for par that she missed, ultimately marking the difference between potentially landing on the medal stand and missing out.

American Gerina Piller was tied for second place heading into the final round, but the 31-year-old struggled on Saturday, shooting 3-over 74 to fall into a tie for 11th place.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Golf’s successful Olympic return