Philadelphia, Sept 11 (AFP) Tony Finau, a long-driving American golfer of Tongan and Samoan heritage, was named to the final vacant spot on the US Ryder Cup team on Monday by US captain Jim Furyk.

The 28-year-old from Utah completes the 12-man American lineup that will defend the trophy against Europe in the biennial team golf showdown on September 28-30 at Le Golf National in France.

Finau, who won his only US PGA title at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, had three top-10 major finishes this season -- sharing 10th at the Masters, taking fifth at the US Open and sharing ninth at the British Open.

"We were looking for guys who had a great body of work all year. He had 11 top 10s. Played good in big moments. He had three top 10s in majors," Furyk said.

Finau boosted his chances by joining a group that played at Le Golf National earlier this year.

"I liked what I saw," Furyk said of Finau's play on the French host layout. "He had a lot of support from our vice captains. Ultimately, I thought he was our best pick."

The Americans, who haven't won in Europe since 1993, figure to add power and endurance with Finau, who filmed a message of reaction from a plane as he left Monday's final round of the PGA BMW Championship for a charity event in Utah.

"I'm so excited to be on the Ryder Cup team," Finau said. "I can't wait to get to Paris." (AFP) AT

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)