United States captain Jim Furyk has created intrigue ahead of this month’s Presidents Cup by scoring.
Furyk selected Nos. 7-12 in the team rankings for his six captain picks, as announced Tuesday. The move means Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley will play for Team USA for the first time in a decade, but longtime American stalwart Justin Thomas will stay home.
The other American choices 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 six automatic selections for the team.
The Presidents Cup will be held at the Royal Montreal Golf Club from September 26 to 29.
“I’m just trying to put the pieces together,” Furyk said in explaining his choice, calling it a “tough omission” but otherwise providing no explanation to Golf Channel for Thomas’ omission. The 31-year-old was number 19 in the points classification.
Bradley was initially set to become captain’s assistant to Furyk, his only chance to gain experience as a team leader ahead of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. Instead, he will be relieved of those duties, Furyk said, and allowed to focus on playing instead.
International team captain Mike Weir selected Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Si Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee and Taylor Pendrith. Conners, Hughes and Pendrith are all Canadian, giving the team a real maple feel with a Canadian captain and three players. They join Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day and Byeong Hun An.
What about the American team
This is simultaneously unsurprising and incredibly disappointing. Furyrk going with the players ranked No. 7 to 12 saves himself criticism because he can say, “It’s fair,” but it means the US has a team that is failing in both its current form as the players in the rankings. And bringing in young talent. Max Homa has fallen to No. 86 on DataGolf after a scrappy season, and Brian Harman has only one top 10 finish since March. Meanwhile, Justin Thomas is a US Cup legend and is having a much better season than either of them. Thomas is 9-3-2 at Presidents Cups and finished T14 at the Tour Championship, and Akshay Bhatia won this year’s Texas Open. Getting the 22-year-old rising star into the team room for the future could have been invaluable. It all feels like a missed opportunity that neither produces the best team nor moves the team forward. — Brody Miller
Furyk may have gone straight down the list and picked the next six players in the US Presidents Cup rankings, but a few of these selections are still baffling. Harman and Homa have been outplayed by several players who would be an excellent fit for the team, including Thomas, who is widely known as one of the best American match play players of this generation. Harman was likely chosen for his driving accuracy in preparation for a tight and narrow Royal Montreal, and Homa will bring the fire and spirit that comes naturally to him in team environments. But think about Bhatia or even someone like 20-year-old Nick Dunlap. This year’s Cup could have been the perfect opportunity to prepare young blood for future team events, and instead Furyk opted for an older set of picks who aren’t even necessarily playing that well right now. Statistics most likely played a major role in these decisions, in addition to the fit of the partners. But you can’t ignore recent form, and it looks like Furyk has done just that. — Gabby Herzig
What about the international team
Weir gives love to his native Canadians, but perhaps not the love we thought. It would have been impossible for Weir to leave out Lee or Kim – two of his top talents – or Bezuidenhout, who is having a great year. So basically three decisions had to be made. You could argue that Conners is one of the top five international players, so that’s a no-brainer. The same goes for Pendrith, who has jumped to world number 25 in DataGolf with a career year. It’s the choice of Hughes over potentially better talents like Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor that is so difficult to make. Both Hadwin and Taylor have struggled mightily in recent months, so I understand, but Taylor is a killer with two big boy wins in the 2024 WM Phoenix Open and the 2023 Canadian Open to make an absolute mess of a summer. That stings. (Leaving out Australian Cam Davis is the right move. His nice win in Detroit was more of an outlier.) – Miller
Weir took several factors into account when choosing his captain. Yet the Canadian home game element and emphasis on recent form appear to have dominated his decision-making process. Of Weir’s captains, the three Canadians will enjoy playing on familiar territory in front of a supportive crowd. Hughes – who finished at number 15 in the international team rankings – was notably left out of the squad in 2022. He is also known to welcome leadership roles and should be a great fit in the team room. Pendrith and Conners got the honors, seemingly over Hadwin and Taylor, who are perhaps the most recognizable and fiery Canadians. The choice indicated Weir was prioritizing consistency and recent tournament results. Then you have Kim: he brought memorable heat to the 2022 games and was undoubtedly a no-brainer choice for the locker room energy. Additionally, Weir specifically mentioned Kim’s putter, which has been shaky lately but appears to be improving with a putter change. Bezuidenhout sneaked into the FedEx top 30 and put together an underrated season, and Lee has emerged as one of the PGA Tour’s best drivers and cemented himself as an easy fan favorite. Overall, there aren’t too many surprises here, other than Hughes Curveball and Davis being passed over at No. 8 in the rankings. Weir’s choices are strong and represent a deliberate, multi-faceted strategy. — Revise
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(Top photo: Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
