How LIV Golf is harming the Presidents Cup and its future

With the recent PGA Tour season behind us, we now can look forward to the upcoming Presidents Cup, set to begin on September 20th at the infamous Quail Hollow.

Because of recent departures to LIV Golf, including World No. 2 Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann, the International Team has had to quickly solidify its team ahead of this year’s competition.

Captain Trevor Immelman has made his 6 picks for the 2022 International squad, they are: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Cam Davis, Si Woo Kim, K.H. Lee, Sebastian Munoz and Taylor Pendrith.

While many of these golfers had fantastic seasons, I must say many are now looking at the International Team as an underwhelming underdog. This begs the question: is LIV Golf now decimating the PGA Tour on a global scale?

We know that the Greg Norman-led LIV Golf Tour is led by Americans Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Patrick Reed, but they also took many of the International players who would have headlined at Quail Hollow.

Stars like the already mentioned Smith and Niemann, but also players such as Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Louis Oosthuizen, and Abraham Ancer, all of whom would have most definitely been selected by Immelman if he could have.

This left the International Team scrambling to finalize a complete roster with many potential candidates completely new to this competition and level of play.  With 5 rookies on the roster, the International Presidents Cup team will be led by two remaining stars in both Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott.

In comparison, Team USA will feature a group of solidified stars, including Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, and Justin Thomas. When looking at both teams, it’s obvious who the favorite is (*Americans -500 currently).

Many American golfers have remained loyal to Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour, while many International Players took the opportunity to play outside of North America, within a global market. Oh, and I’m sure that the paycheck wasn’t too bad either.

Presidents Cup Wins:

Team USA: 11

International Team: 1

It seems like the LIV Golf field is starting to take shape, meaning we get to see where each golfer stands on a new Tour. What’s interesting is that, in just days, both fields will converge at the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour.

LIV Golfers like Ancer and Graeme McDowell will compete against PGA Golfers like Tommy Fleetwood and Billy Horschel. When asked about this, Horschel did not hold back stating:

"“I don’t think those guys really should be here…the Abraham Ancers, the Talor Gooches, the Jason Krokraks. You’ve never played this tournament; you’ve never supported the DP World Tour. Why are you here?”"

This hostility will only become worse when the Major events return next year. But first, we will get a chance to see just how badly LIV Golf is hurting the PGA Tour’s International talent.

If Team USA dominates (as expected), then Monahan and team will surely be looking to fix this problem if they want continuing global success and strong competitions like the Presidents Cup. I am sure that they felt lucky when Hideki Matsuyama decided to remain with the PGA Tour, at least for now.