Coming into the BMW Championship, the second leg of the PGA Tour Playoffs, Xander Schauffele was essentially already guaranteed one of the 30 spots in this week's season-ending Tour Championship given his place in the FedEx Cup standings. But the 29-year-old had much more on the line, as the BMW was his last chance to earn one of the six automatic spots on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

And with a solid 2-under round of 68 on the par-70 layout at Olympia Fields on Sunday, which earned him a tie for eighth, the reigning Olympic gold medalist snuck into the sixth and final slot, knocking out LIV Golf superstar and five-time major championship winner Brooks Koepka in the process.

Koepka, who can only earn points from his appearances in the four major championships, entered the week in the No. 5 spot in the Ryder Cup standings, fell to seventh as he was surpassed by both Schauffele and Max Homa. Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, and Patrick Cantlay took the first four slots.

Homa jumped into the fifth position with a T5 finish at the BMW Championship, finishing six shots back of winner Viktor Hovland, who's already qualified for a stacked European Ryder Cup team that will battle the U.S. starting September 29 at Rome's Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.

As for Xander Schauffele, he told the press following Sunday's round that automatically qualifying for the Ryder Cup was “definitely a goal” he had this season, saying he didn't want to have to wait and see if he would be one of Zach Johnson's six captain's picks, which will be announced on August 29. Via ESPN:

“You don't really want to sit around and wait for the phone call. Been on both sides of it, to be completely honest, for a Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup team. I can't remember which one was a pick, which one was not. But I remember getting a call saying no and a call saying yes. It's nice to automatically qualify.”

This will mark Schauffele's second consecutive Ryder Cup appearance. The current world No. 6 went 3-1-0 in 2021 at Whistling Straits in helping the U.S. to a dominant 19-9 victory.