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U.S. captain Jim Furyk has been stirring up excitement ahead of this month's Presidents Cup.
On Tuesday, Foryk announced that he has selected players from positions 7 through 12 in the team standings to captain the team. The move means that Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley will play for the U.S. team for the first time in a decade, but veteran American Justin Thomas will stay at home.
Other American selections included Sam Burns, Russell Henley, Max Homa, Brian Harman and Tony Finau. Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Saith Thigala were the six automatic selections to the team.
The President's Cup will be held at Royal Montreal Golf Club from September 26-29.
“I'm just trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together,” Furyk said in explaining his selection, calling it a “tough omission,” but he did not offer Golf Channel an explanation for not selecting Thomas. The 31-year-old finished 19th in the points standings.
Bradley was originally scheduled to be Furyk’s assistant captain, his only chance to gain leadership experience before the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. Instead, Furyk said, he will be relieved of those duties and allowed to focus on playing.
International team captain Mike Weir has selected Christian Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Seo Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee and Taylor Pendreth. Conners, Hughes and Pendreth are all Canadians, giving the team a true maple flavor with a Canadian captain and three players. They will join Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day and Byung-Hun Ahn.
What do we think of Team USA?
This is both unsurprising and incredibly disappointing. Foreric’s surrender with players ranked 7-12 saves himself from criticism because he can say “it’s fair,” but it does mean that the United States has a team that is failing at both its current level and its current level. and This has been a season full of young talent. Max Homa has dropped to 86th on DataGolf amid the chaos of the season, and Brian Harman has only one top-10 finish since March. Meanwhile, Justin Thomas is a U.S. Cup legend who is having a much better season than either of them. Thomas has a 9-3-2 record at the Presidents Cup and finished 14th on the Tour Championship, and Akshay Bhatia won the Texas Open this year. It would have been a huge benefit to have the 22-year-old rising star in the team room for the future. But it feels like a missed opportunity that doesn’t bring the best out of the team and doesn’t help the team move forward. Brody Miller
Voryk could have gone straight down the list and picked the next six players in the Presidents’ Cup order, but some of these picks are still puzzling. He beat out Harman and Homa for several players who would have been perfect fits for the team — including Thomas, widely regarded as one of the best American match players of this generation. Harman was likely selected for his precision driving in preparation for the tight and tight Royals, and Homa would provide the fire and spirit that comes naturally to him in team settings. But think Bhatia or even someone like 20-year-old Nick Dunlap. This year’s Cup could have been the perfect opportunity to prepare the young blood for future team events, and instead Voryk picked a bunch of older picks who aren’t necessarily playing well right now. Statistics are likely to play a big part in these decisions, as well as partner fit. But you can’t ignore recent form, and Voryk appears to have done just that. Gabi Herzig
What do we think of the international team?
Weir gives the native Canadians his love, but perhaps not the love we’d imagine. It was impossible for Weir to leave out Lee or Kim — two of his best talents — or Bezuidenhout, who is having a great year, so he’s left three decisions to make. You could argue that Conners is a top-five international player, so it’s a no-brainer. Same with Pendrith, who has jumped to No. 25 in the world by DataGolf in his career year. It’s a tough call to pick Hughes over potential top talent like Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor. Hadwin and Taylor have both struggled badly in the past few months, so I get that, but Taylor fought back with big wins at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open and the 2023 Canadian Open, until he went into absolute chaos in the summer. That hurt. (Leaving out Australian Cam Davis was the right move. His beautiful win in Detroit was more than an anomaly.) — Miller
Weir considered a variety of factors in his captaincy selections. However, the element of home games and a focus on recent performances seemed to dominate the decision-making process. Of Weir’s captaincy picks, all three Canadians will enjoy playing on familiar ground in front of a supportive crowd. Hughes — ranked No. 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 fit right in with the team room. Pendrith and Conners got the nod, seemingly over Hadwin and Taylor, who are perhaps the most popular and passionate Canadians. The selection suggested Weir prioritized consistency and recent tournament results. Then there’s Kim: He brought some memorable heat to the 2022 games and was undoubtedly a no-brainer for the energy of the locker room. Additionally, Weir specifically mentioned Kim’s situation, which has been unstable of late but seems to be improving with the switch. Bezuidenhout has crept into the FedEx top 30 and had an underrated season, and Lee has emerged as one of the best drivers on the PGA Tour and easily established himself as a fan favorite. Overall, there were few surprises here, save for the curveball Hughes hit that moved him past Davis for eighth in the standings. Weir’s choices are solid and represent a deliberate, versatile strategy. Herzig
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(Top photo: Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
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