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Presidents Cup 2019: The biggest snubs from each team’s roster

By Brandon Raper

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 06: Tiger Woods speaks next to the Presidents Cup during a Presidents Cup media opportunity at the Yarra Promenade on December 5, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. The Presidents Cup 2019 will be held on December 9-15, 2019, when it returns to the prestigious Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 06: Tiger Woods speaks next to the Presidents Cup during a Presidents Cup media opportunity at the Yarra Promenade on December 5, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. The Presidents Cup 2019 will be held on December 9-15, 2019, when it returns to the prestigious Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images) /
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Both teams for the 2019 Presidents Cup are complete following the announcement of the captain’s picks last week. Still, some deserving players got left behind.

The Presidents Cup doesn’t have the cultural cachet of the Ryder Cup, but that doesn’t make earning a spot on either team any less important to those involved. It’s a reward for a job well done throughout the year-long qualifying period, and for those who are chosen as captain’s picks, a nod to some strong qualities that can help their team win.

Most of the picks made by captains Ernie Els and Tiger Woods last week weren’t any kind of shock. Els went with Sungjae Im, Joaquin Niemann, Adam Hadwin and Jason Day. While Im and Niemann bring a strong youth factor to their first Cups, Hadwin and Day have both been there before, with Day bringing the most experience and the best resume.

Els was also the more creative of the two captains in making his picks, because he didn’t go totally chalk as the points would have suggested. Day finished the qualifying period in ninth place, one away from an automatic spot. Im was 11th, Hadwin was 18th, and Niemann – a rookie, admittedly – was all the way down in 28th place.

Jazz Janewattananond would have been a popular pick, in 10th place, but I understand why he didn’t make it. He’s only played three “big Tour” events since the Open Championship, and a couple mediocre finishes on the Asian Swing followed up by a T14 at the WGC-HSBC Champions isn’t super impressive.

Just three spots down though, in 13th place, was Canadian Corey Conners. He scored a top ten at the BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and he’s run off four straight top-20 finishes on the PGA TOUR, including a 6th-place tie at the ZOZO Championship. He also famously went from Monday qualifying for the Valero Texas Open in April to winning the dang thing, securing his first Masters invitation in the process. How Els justified not bringing him along for this event is beyond me.

And what about Byeong Hun (Ben) An? He was arguably just as hot as Conners in Asia, going T6-T8-T14 at the CJ CUP, ZOZO Championship and the WGC-HSBC, respectively. For the Big Easy’s analytical approach, he was just as good off the tee and on approach as anybody picked. Heck, he led the PGA TOUR in strokes gained around the green last season.

Neither Conners nor An were statistically great putters, which is super important in match play, but they were certainly deserving of picks in their own right. And considering how much of a gap the International Team typically faces against Team USA in the Presidents Cup, every little bit helps.

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Speaking of the American side, I feel like Tiger Woods got it mostly right with his picks, but there were a few who probably felt a bit slighted by omission here, too. Tiger himself was a no-brainer in my book (sorry, Paul McGinley?), as were Tony Finau and Gary Woodland. Even Patrick Reed is pretty unassailable as a selection, considering his recent strong form and outstanding history in both the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup.

Rickie Fowler would have been the obvious pick in 11th place, directly behind Finau and Woodland, and one spot ahead of Reed in automatic qualifying. He missed the Asian Swing due to his wedding and honeymoon with new wife Allison Stokke. While everyone is certainly happy for the newlywed couple, it seems likely that his lack of action since August played a big factor in being presumably the first player left out. He’ll also be missing this week’s Mayakoba Classic after contracting a bacterial illness on that honeymoon.

While it’s tough to call just about anybody else in the American field a snub because of the clear drawbacks each would have, I also would have given some strong consideration to guys like Brandt Snedeker, who showed solid form in the Playoffs but just can’t quite find top gear, and Kevin Na, who just won in Las Vegas a few weeks ago.

Heck, even Jordan Spieth, who has been struggling to find his game but has flashed signs of returning to his winning form, would have been a good pick for a Presidents Cup team that’s already a ridiculously heavy favorite to come out on top. He’s also pretty much built for match play when he’s on, as his putting is arguably the best in the world. Fortune favors the bold and all, right?

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None of this is to say that these Presidents Cup snubs would necessarily change the entire course of the competition for their teams, especially since the thing doesn’t even start until December 12th. But considering how high the expectations are for both Tiger Woods and Ernie Els in their first outings as captains, they can’t afford to leave anything behind when play begins.

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