Canadians Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, and Mackenzie Hughes were named by International Team captain Mike Weir to his team for this month’s Presidents Cup, which will be held at Royal Montreal.
Along with South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout, South Korea’s Kim Si-woo, and Australia’s Min Woo Lee, the three Canadians were named captain’s choices for the 12-player squad that will play an impressive U.S. team in Montreal on September 26–29.
The captain’s picks
For the first time, three Canadian players will be competing for the International Team in the Presidents Cup. Out of the six captain’s picks, Kim made his Presidents Cup debut in 2017, Bezuidenhout, Conners, and Pendrith in 2022, and Hughes and Lee are first-timers.
Pendrith advanced to the Tour Championship for the first time in 2024, winning his maiden race on the PGA Tour at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He also had five more top-10 finishes throughout that year. This year, Hughes and Conners each had three top-10 finishes.
Furthermore, Bezuidenhout finished second at The American Express in 2024, Kim had two top-10 performances, and Lee had his greatest PGA Tour finishes to date with back-to-back T2 performances at the Cognizant Classic and the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The Presidents Cup, a biennial competition that pairs a U.S. squad with a roster of foreign athletes from outside of Europe, will take place on September 26–29, 2024.
The United States is the clear favourite going into this week’s Presidents Cup in Montreal, but Mike Weir, the captain of the International Team, stated that his team shouldn’t be taken lightly in their attempt to end the Americans’ dominance.
In the biannual competition that started in 1994, the United States is 12-1-1, having lost in 1998 and required a tie in 2003. Despite these setbacks, Weir isn’t bothered by the past and understands that matchplay golf can be surprising and a wonderful leveller.
Weir said: “Golf’s golf, and there are going to be challenging matches no matter what, the odd time there’s a team that runs away with a match here and there, but most of the matches are always tight.”
An intense competition
With five of the top 10 players in the world and all 12 of his teammates ranked in the top 25, Jim Furyk’s formidable U.S. team is preventing the International Team from winning the Presidents Cup again.
In contrast, the highest-ranked player on an International Team that includes eight players who are ranked outside of the top 25, is Japanese world number seven Hideki Matsuyama, who is making his sixth Presidents Cup start.
Weir admitted: “So we’ve got a tall challenge, but the guys are up for it, they’re ready for it, and they’re embracing that.”
Weir is also counting on a lot of support from the galleries, much as he did during his 2007 victory over Tiger Woods when the Presidents Cup was held at Royal Montreal. Weir is a former Masters champion, and his group includes three other Canadians.
“It’s a big part of this competition, I believe, and a big part of team golf where you can ride some momentum and the crowd gets behind you, and you can really feed off that” Weir stated.
“I certainly did here in 2007, not only with my match playing Tiger, but just the other matches, you get the crowd energy, and you can raise your level a little bit. So it can be a huge factor,” he added.
First-round play is set for Thursday and will comprise five four-ball matches with yet-to-be-announced pairings.
In the first of five fourball matches in the Presidents Cup opening session in Montreal, Americans Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau will take on the international team of Jason Day and An Byeong-hun.
Xander Schauffele, an athlete from Southern California, has had a tremendous season. He is currently ranked second in the world, which is a career-high, and won the PGA Championship and the British Open this year.
Meanwhile, Jason Day of Australia will be keen to improve on his unsatisfactory 5-11-4 record from his four previous Presidents Cup appearances. He will want to gain momentum from South Korea’s powerful An.
For the second game, International Team leader Mike Weir countered with two Australians, Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, while U.S. captain Jim Furyk chose Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
In the third match of the day, world number one Scottie Scheffler and fellow American Russell Henley will take on Im Sung-jae and Tom Kim of South Korea.
South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Canada’s Taylor Pendrith will then play Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley in the fourth match.
Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns will compete against Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and Corey Conners of Canada to end the first day of the four-day competition.
The United States team is once again the clear favourite despite facing a more skilled international team. They have dominated the biannual competition with a 12-1-1 record. Meanwhile, with the goal of winning their first Presidents Cup since 1998 at Royal Melbourne, the Internationals are adding eight players from their 2022 group to their 12-man lineup.
The Presidents Cup concluded as it has for the previous 19 years—with a victory for Team USA.
With a spectacular finish at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada, Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley secured the winning point as the star-studded American team defeated the International Team 18.5–11.5. This marked the team’s tenth consecutive triumph in the biennial competition.
Highlights of the competition
Xander Schauffele, the two-time major champion this year, defeated Jason Day of Australia in a 4&3 (four ahead with three holes to play) match that set the tone for the 12 final singles matches. After leading 11–7 into the fourth and final day, captain Jim Furyk’s team needed just 3.5 more points to win.
Despite the fact that world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler lost to Hideki Matsuyama, Bradley secured yet another US triumph when opponent Kim Si-woo was unable to convert from 10 feet on the final hole.
For Bradley, who hadn’t played for the US since losing the game that finalized a crushing Ryder Cup loss to Europe in 2014, it was a full-circle moment that had been waiting for ten years. He admitted: “The last time I played in one of these, I was the clinching point for the Europeans in the Ryder Cup. Fast-forward 10 years later and I got to do that today. Really something I’ll remember the rest of my life… I learned a lot from Jim and Tabitha (Furyk) this week. It was the best job I’ve ever seen done as captain and the captain’s wife.”
International Team gave a fight
Seeking their first victory since 1998, the International Team did not give up easily.
After an opening 5-0 US blitz, captain Mike Weir’s International Team rallied with a sweep of their own on Friday to tie the game at 5-5, with motivated young South Korean player Tom Kim setting the tone for the comeback.
The 22-year-old, who has previously won three times on the PGA Tour, caused a stir when playing Scheffler in a fourball match the day before. He was all ablaze with excitement after making a long birdie putt, but he moved on to the next tee before Scheffler’s subsequent missed putt.
Despite disclosing that Kim had “poked the bear”, Masters winner Scheffler dismissed the episode as a normal part of the game, saying, “We’re friends after, we’re not friends during.”
However, team USA assistant captain Kevin Kisner called Kim’s choice to leave the game prior to Scheffler’s putt a “bush league” move. He admitted: “They took gamesmanship too far and over the line on sportsmanship and lost some integrity.”
More so, after accusing the American team of cursing at him on Saturday, Kim found himself at the heart of the drama once more.
Kim joined up with fellow countryman Kim Si-woo once more for an exciting foursomes match against Cantlay and Schauffele after defeating Bradley and Wyndham Clark.
Tom Kim stated: “As it got towards the end, it got a little feisty out there. I could hear some players cursing at us… I don’t think there was good sportsmanship there. But it’s all part of the fun. I understand it. The US team definitely motivated us to go out there.”
Schauffele denied the allegations, stating that he and Cantlay showed utmost respect to their opponents.
The world No. 2 stated: “We’re trying to quiet the crowds down when they were hitting… I have no clue if anyone was doing any of that. I don’t believe any of our guys would do something like that. So I’m not sure what he was hearing.”
Kim added: “This event is all about doing things you would never do and creating energy and doing all these things. If I do certain things on the greens when I make putts, I expect them to do the same thing. It’s all part of the game. It was just about that.”
The PGA Tour announced that Brandt Snedeker, the vice captain of the United States Ryder Cup team, has been added to Jim Furyk’s squad as assistant captain for the Presidents Cup match this month in Montreal against Mike Weir’s International team.
Snedeker, a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour and the 2007 Rookie of the Year on the American tour, will play in the Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club on September 26–29 alongside aides Stewart Cink, Justin Leonard, and Kevin Kisner.
With this news, Furyk stated: “He is a fierce competitor, great teammate and one of the most respected players on the PGA Tour… He will provide a steady voice in the team room, and I will rely on him for insight and advice as we lead our 12 players into Montreal at the end of the month.”
First time as assistant captain
Snedeker was selected as one of Keegan Bradley’s vice captains for the 2025 Ryder Cup last month, and will serve as captain’s aide for the first time in the Presidents Cup. Given this role, he declared: “My goal is to add a trusted voice to our players throughout the week and do everything I can to help us pull out the win.”
The athlete competed for the United States in the 2012 and 2016 Ryder Cups, where he earned a 4-2-0 record. He also represented the country in the 2013 Presidents Cup, finishing with a 2-3-0 record.
In the Presidents Cup, International players from outside of Europe compete against a 12-man U.S. squad. The United States has a perfect record of 12-1-1 in the Ryder Cup-style Presidents Cup competition, and their lone defeat was in 1998 at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.
The US Ryder Cup team is crafted from a tapestry of recent victories and emerges with remarkable vigor. Leading the charge are Brian Harman, the driving force behind the 2023 Open Championship, Wyndham Clark, winner of the 2023 US Open, and Scottie Scheffler, winner of the 2022 Masters.
The team is strengthened by Patrick Cantlay, the 2022 BMW Championship champion, Max Homa, the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open champion, and former World No. 4 Xander Schauffele. A sextet of golfing greatness, ready for the Ryder Cup’s grand finale.
The US Ryder Cup rankings following the 2023 BMW Championship are as follows:
No.
Player
1
Scottie Scheffler
2
Wyndham Clark
3
Brian Harman
4
Patrick Cantlay
5
Max Homa
6
Xander Schauffele
7
Brooks Koepka
8
Jordan Spieth
9
Cameron Young
10
Collin Morikawa
As the Ryder Cup nears in Rome, excitement is at an all-time high with a mix of rookie enthusiasm and seasoned prowess. Schauffele, Scheffler, and Cantlay have prior experience from 2021, while Homa, Clark, and Harman are expected to make their debuts.
Photo: Instagram / Scottie Scheffler
Captain Zach Johnson must make a difficult decision regarding the team’s final six berths. The 2023 PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka drops to seventh place as a result of Schauffele and Homa’s noteworthy advance in the standings.
Zach Johnson talks about his 2023 Ryder Cup captain picks and the unusual decisions to come
The upcoming captain’s announcement takes center stage as spectators clutch their breath, revealing the six best players based on their team efforts. Questions are raised about the LIV golfers’ participation as the spotlight remains on them.
Despite obstacles Saudi Circuit players experienced in auto-qualification because of a Tour suspension, there is cause for optimism because the captain’s call has the ability to change their course.
Zach Johnson, the captain of the US team for the Ryder Cup, provided a sneak peek at his selection process on a recent episode of the Golf Subpar podcast. Johnson wants to select six highly skilled Americans, primarily from the PGA Tour ranks, but with some flexibility. It’s an engrossing glimpse into the impending confrontation, where hope and opportunity collide in the race for Ryder Cup triumph.
