The 2024 FedEx Cup Playoffs may still have one week remaining, but the qualifying period for the 2024 Presidents Cup does not. The end of the BMW Championship marked the conclusion of qualifying for the event set to be held next month at Royal Montreal Golf Club from Sept. 26-29.
The automatic qualifiers for the visiting United States side consist of a quartet of mainstays and a couple of debutants. Scottie Scheffler will lead the red, white and blue into Canada and make his second appearance alongside Collin Morikawa. The highly touted partnership of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will be at it again in what will be their third Presidents Cup.
Former U.S. Open champion and U.S. Ryder Cup member Wyndham Clark will star in his first Presidents Cup after a pair of career-changing seasons. Sahith Theegala is the last man in at the No. 6 spot; he will be a rookie as well after scoring his first PGA Tour victory last fall.
“Jim [Furyk] has been awesome. He’s invited some guys over for a few dinners, and there was a pretty intimate one last week,” Theegala said of the Presidents Cup captain. “He’s just so pumped for me. He was giving me my flowers, basically. He was just proud of how I’ve played all year and couldn’t wait to get me on the team. I asked him a lot of questions, and I did a lot of listening. Other guys had questions, and I was just listening. It just seems awesome. It’s just incredible how into it all the guys are, and I’m sure we’re going to talk a lot more after Tour Championship when we have a few weeks off. Yeah, I can’t wait.”
While there are a couple new names and some relatively fresh faces on the U.S. side, the International team will see two of its stalwarts sprint into Montreal. St. Jude Championship winner Hideki Matsuyama will tee it up in his sixth Presidents Cup, while 14-time PGA Tour winner Adam Scott is set to play in his 11th — just one off the all-time record held by Phil Mickelson.
After taking the world by storm at Quail Hollow two years ago, global superstar Tom Kim will play in his first Presidents Cup as a member of the home team with his fellow countrymen Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun An. Australian Jason Day returns to the competition for the first time since 2017.
U.S. team automatic qualifiers
|
1 |
Scottie Scheffler |
2nd |
|
2 |
Xander Schauffele |
3rd |
|
3 |
Collin Morikawa |
2nd |
|
4 |
Wyndham Clark |
1st |
|
5 |
Patrick Cantlay |
3rd |
|
6 |
Sahith Theegala |
1st |
Furyk and counterpart Mike Weir will announce their six captain’s picks the Tuesday after the Tour Championship with some being easier to make than others. Sam Burns has partnered up with Scheffler in team events, and he has played great golf as of late. Meanwhile, Tony Finau has found his footing this summer just missing out on the automatic cut-off point.
That would leave Furyk with four other spots to fill if he chooses both Americans. Max Homa and Brian Harman finished among the top 12 in qualifying and joined forces together last fall in Rome but failed to play their way into the Tour Championship. Russell Henley has quietly put together a strong campaign with top 10s at the U.S. Open and The Open, and Billy Horschel looks to join his second Presidents Cup team amid a strong run of form.
Justin Thomas remains an X-factor as does young gun Akshay Bhatia. Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young and Nick Dunlap could receive some consideration as well despite finishing outside the top 20 in qualifying.
The biggest elephant in the room is actually a man who has already booked his flight to Montreal. Assistant captain and BMW Championship winner Keegan Bradley could now serve as a player instead of holding his presumed leadership role. That could add to the murky waters Furyk must wade through.
International team automatic qualifiers
|
1 |
Hideki Matsuyama |
6th |
|
2 |
Sungjae Im |
3rd |
|
3 |
Adam Scott |
11th |
|
4 |
Tom Kim |
2nd |
|
5 |
Jason Day |
5th |
| 6 | Byeong Hun An | 2nd |
Weir similarly faces a fair share of difficult decisions. Corey Conners and Cam Davis are assumed to be safe having respectively finished seventh and eighth in the qualifying cycle. That leaves four spots remaining for a number of potential suitors.
Min Woo Lee should feel good about his chances to elicit a captain’s pick after finishing ninth in qualifying, as should Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who qualified for the Tour Championship and compiled a winning record in his Presidents Cup debut at Quail Hollow.
Should Weir follow this script, the final two picks may come down to the five players who finished Nos. 11-15 in qualifying. Si Woo Kim (No. 14) has sizzled in this format, but he could be passed up for Taylor Pendrith (No. 11), Nick Taylor (No. 12), Adam Hadwin (No. 13) or Mackenzie Hughes (No. 15) as the foursome vie for the chance to play in their home country.
