With his alternative of chalk, United States captain Jim Furyk has created excitement ahead of this month's Presidents Cup.
Furyk selected Nos. 7 through 12 within the team rankings for his six captain's picks, announced Tuesday. The move means Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley will play for Team USA for the primary time in a decade, while longtime American star Justin Thomas will stay home.
The other American picks were Sam Burns, Russell Henley, Max Homa, Brian Harman and Tony Finau. Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala were the team's six automatic picks.
The Presidents Cup will happen from September 26 to 29 on the Royal Montreal Golf Club.
“I'm just trying to put the pieces together,” Furyk said of his alternative, calling it a “tough omission” but otherwise giving Golf Channel no explanation for why he not noted Thomas, the 31-year-old who was No. 19 within the points standings.
Bradley was originally slated to be Furyk's assistant captain, his only probability to achieve experience as a team leader before the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. Instead, he might be relieved of those duties, Furyk said, and might concentrate on playing as a substitute.
International team captain Mike Weir has chosen Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Si Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee and Taylor Pendrith. Conners, Hughes and Pendrith are all Canadian, adding an actual maple flavour to the team with a Canadian captain and three players. They will join Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day and Byeong Hun An.
What do you concentrate on the US team?
That's each not surprising and incredibly disappointing. Furyrk, who takes on players ranked seventh through twelfth, avoids criticism because he can say, “That's fair,” but it surely does mean the U.S. has a team that’s failing each in current form and in current form. And usher in young talent. Max Homa has dropped to 86th on DataGolf while enduring a chaotic season, and Brian Harman has just one top-10 finish since March. Justin Thomas, however, is a U.S. Cup legend and is having a a lot better season than those two. Thomas is 9-3-2 in Presidents Cups and finished T14th on the Tour Championship, and Akshay Bhatia won the Texas Open this yr. Bringing the 22-year-old rising star onto the team for the long run might have been invaluable. It all seems like a missed opportunity that neither produces the most effective team nor helps the team move forward. —
Furyk could have gone straight down the list and picked the subsequent six players on the U.S. Presidents Cup leaderboard, but a few of those selections are still confusing. Harman and Homa were outmatched by several players who would have been great suits within the team — including Thomas, who’s widely often known as among the finest American match play players of this generation. Harman was likely chosen for his shot accuracy in preparation for a good and shut Royal Montreal, and Homa will bring the fireplace and spirit that comes naturally to him in team settings. But consider Bhatia, and even someone like 20-year-old Nick Dunlap. This yr's Cup might have been the proper opportunity to groom young blood for future team events, and as a substitute Furyk went with an older selection that isn't even necessarily playing that well right away. In addition to partner fit, statistics probably played an enormous role in those decisions. But you’ll be able to't ignore recent form, and it seems that Furyk has done just that. —
What do you concentrate on the international team?
Weir is giving his native Canadians love, but possibly not in the best way we thought. It would have been inconceivable for Weir to depart out Lee or Kim – two of his top talents – or Bezuidenhout, who’s having a fantastic yr, in order that left essentially three decisions to make. You could argue that Conners is a top five international player, so it's a no brainer. The same goes for Pendrith, who jumped to twenty fifth within the DataGolf world rankings with a profession yr. It's the choice for Hughes over potentially higher talents like Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor that’s so hard to make. Both Hadwin and Taylor have struggled badly in recent months, so I get it, but Taylor is a killer with two wins as an enormous boy on the 2024 Phoenix Open and 2023 Canadian Open, until absolute chaos in the summertime. That hurts. (Leaving out Australian Cam Davis is the appropriate move. His beautiful win in Detroit was more of an outlier.) —
Weir considered plenty of aspects when choosing his captain. Still, Canada's home-court nature and emphasis on recent form appear to have dominated his decision-making process. Of Weir's captain selections, the three Canadians will enjoy playing on familiar turf in front of a supportive crowd. Hughes – who finished fifteenth within the international team rankings – was notably not included within the 2022 squad. He can also be known to welcome leadership roles and needs to be a fantastic fit within the team room. Pendrith and Conners got the nod, seemingly ahead of Hadwin and Taylor, who’re perhaps the better-known and more fiery Canadians. The alternative showed that Weir prioritized consistency and up to date tournament results. Then there's Kim: He brought a memorable heat to the 2022 Games and was little doubt a natural for the energy within the locker room. Plus, Weir specifically mentioned Kim's putting, which has been shaky of late but appears to be improving with a putter change. Bezuidenhout has snuck into the FedEx top 30 and put together an underrated season, and Lee has emerged as among the finest drivers on the PGA Tour and established himself as a transparent fan favorite. Overall, there aren't too many surprises here, other than the curveball from Hughes and Davis being omitted for No. 8 within the rankings. Weir's picks are strong and represent a deliberate, multifaceted strategy. —
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