Jordan Spieth Came to the Rescue of PGA Tour Pro Worried About Career With a 9-Word Message

By 2025, Harris English had left no room for uncertainty. A string of high-pressure performances, including a win at the Farmers Insurance Open and a runner-up finish at The Open, lifted him to sixth place in the Ryder Cup standings and locked in his automatic qualification. But just four years ago, the situation had been starkly different.

Despite winning both the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January and the Travelers Championship in June of 2021, English was left waiting, unsure if his name would be among the dozen heading to Whistling Straits. His Ryder Cup debut hung on a captain’s pick, and even that felt far from guaranteed. On the 31 July episode of The Smylie Show podcast, English opened up about that tense stretch in 2021. Host Smylie Kaufman asked him, “What was it like leading up to those picks that Steve Stricker made?” referencing the then-U.S. captain. 

English’s voice reflected the nerves that had simmered beneath his strong season. “Yeah, you always question that. You always question that,” he said, acknowledging that even after the two big wins, nothing felt certain. Part of that unease stemmed from the awkward in-between he had with Stricker, but no assurances. “I remember kind of unsure, like I had a really good relationship with Steve Stricker… he was kind of always like the guy, like, we looked up to him, just so cool, and he was always super nice to me, kind of a mentor to me in my early years on the Tour,” English recalled. “And I felt like I had a pretty good chance.” Then came the 9-worded relief, not from a coach or captain, but from a peer.

During the 2021 BMW Championship at Caves Valley, English was grouped with Bryson DeChambeau and Jordan Spieth, the latter already a Ryder Cup mainstay. “He was kind of asking me like, ‘Hey, like who do you think you want to play with and all that in the Ryder Cup,’” English remembered. “And I was like, man, like I don’t even know if I’m on the team. And he kind of gave me some assurance, like, ‘I think you’re going to be on the team.’ So that kind of made me feel pretty good.” When Stricker eventually called and confirmed the pick, it validated not only English’s season but also Spieth’s confidence in his teammate.

English went 1–2–0 in his debut and helped Team USA to a dominant 19–9 win at Whistling Straits, the largest margin of victory in the modern Ryder Cup era.

He didn’t make the 2023 squad, but in 2025, English didn’t need anyone’s belief but his own. A second-place finish at Royal Portrush, four shots behind Scottie Scheffler, capped a consistent stretch that included a win at the Farmers Insurance Open, a tied-2nd at the PGA Championship, T-12 at The Memorial, and T-4 at the Travelers Championship. That Portrush result vaulted him into the final automatic qualifying position with 10,385 points. Now, with less than two months to go before Bethpage Black, Harris English returns to the Ryder Cup stage as a lock-in from the get-go.