CHASKA – It never occurred to Davis Love III that every shot in the final round of the Tour Championship would matter.

When the PGA of America and the Task Force met after a devastating 16 ½ to 11 ½ USA loss at Gleneagles in Scotland in 2014, the idea was to pick the hot player known as the Horschel pick.

In 2014, Horschel was not on the radar screen of then-captain Tom Watson, mainly because his picks were made after the Deutsche Bank Championship, weeks before the Ryder Cup.

Billy Horschel had a chance to win the Deutsche Bank Championship that year, but found the hazard on the 18th and finished in a tie for second.

Watson, never really considered the Florida Gator, picking instead Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan and Webb Simpson.

Horschel would go on to sweep the remainder of the playoffs, winning the BMW Championship and Tour Championship.

While the USA was getting roughed up in Scotland, arguably the hottest American player was sitting at home watching.

Ryan Moore, the last player added to the U.S. Ryder Cup team on Sunday night is the first beneficiary of the Horschel Rule.

According to Love, many players were still in the mix on Sunday at East Lake, none of them as hot as Horschel, begging the question how did Love arrive at Moore?

“Ryan obviously week after week after week after week was the hottest player since the PGA Championship and even before he’s been the most consistent in all of the statistics,” Love said on Monday at Hazeltine.

Moore finished T-70 in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol and then recorded four top 10s over the next seven events, including his fifth career win at the John Deere Classic and the playoff loss to Rory McIlroy on Sunday.

Since the PGA Championship, Moore has jumped from 61st in the world rankings to 31st, and, in Love’s estimation, was the hottest USA player not on the team.

“It was a painful process,” Love said about the back and forth, texting and talking to his assistant captains about the final pick on Sunday afternoon. “Every shot, every putt, seemed to change the order who was going to win the FedEx Cup, who was going to win the golf tournament.”

Even leaving the hotel with McIlroy needing to drain a 15-footer to win the tournament and ultimately the FedEx Cup, Love was unsure of his pick.

More discussion with the other captains was required and a decision was finally made.

The Moore decision meant that Daniel Berger, Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson, all players that made it to the so called “tryout” at Hazeltine last Monday would lose out.

For rookies Berger and Thomas, the odds were long. But for Watson, the number seven player in the world and ninth on the Ryder Cup list, he was going to be staying home.

“I called him and told him that I was going a different direction again,” Love recalled the conversation with Bubba Watson last night.

Watson’s response, was typical Bubba.

“I still want to be a part of this team, if you’ll have me.”

So on Sunday night, Love got his hot player in Moore and named a fifth vice-captain in Watson.

“We are heavy on leadership and heavy on passion, Love said. “We just got to get out and play our game, I think is the only thing we have to do.”