Presidents Cup Teams are set with multiple major winners on each side

The U.S. players who made the team on points are Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, and the two newcomers to the Presidents Cup, Wyndham Clark and Sahith Theegala. Picks for the U.S. squad are Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, and Max Homa. 

Tony Finau played in the last two Presidents Cups, while Russell Henley is making his debut.  There’s no doubt that Henley’s final round at East Lake, where he posted a 62 with eight birdies and an eagle, was a convincer. For team play, it’s important to have good putters, and Henley certainly filled up the cups in Atlanta.      

While Furyk and his assistants will have to find partners for a few of the players, there are some that are contenders to repeat as partners including Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, and Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. Pairings people may have forgotten about are Brian Harman and Max Homa.

In addition, some friends split up to help the team, such as Cantlay and Homa playing with Clark, and Burns teaming with Morikawa.  

In past Presidents Cups, Finau played with Max Homa. Obviously, there are many ways that this strong U.S. team can make partnerships work to gain points. And everyone will want to impress Keegan Bradley since he’s the next Ryder Cup captain.

International Captain Mike Weir had a slightly bigger task since he had only the last Presidents Cup as a reference.

And that was an additional year in the past. 

His six automatic qualifiers are Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, and Byeong Hun An.  All have past Cup experience. The six picks for the International squad are Corey Conners, Min Woo Lee, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Taylor Pendrith, Si Woo Kim, and Mackenzie Hughes. 

Scott has played in 10 Presidents Cups beginning in 2003. Day has played in four of them. No doubt Weir will be leaning heavily on both Australians to provide guidance and wisdom to newer players.

The two Kims played well together in the most recent Presidents Cup, and seemed to be having a great deal of fun as well as providing extra energy for their team effort against the U.S.. They will need that again this time around.

Bezuidenhout is the lone South African this time around, rather a surprise in a competition that has included so many from that country in past events.

With three Canadians, the crowds at Royal Montreal Golf Club are guaranteed to have an extra rooting interest which will no doubt assist the Internationals. Canadian players have done so well recently that Weir had to leave Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin off the team.

Lee, who had international success before coming to the U.S., will be a solid player for the International squad. He is a Cup rookie, but don’t look for him to play like a rookie.   

Certainly, the International squad will be taking the Presidents Cup extra seriously, and with what could be called a hometown crowd, they will have the 13th-man advantage. In fact, the Internationals have so much experience on their team that they could almost draw straws to pick a partner. Expect them to play selflessly in their effort to win.

It should be a close contest.

The Presidents Cup will be played at Royal Montreal Golf Club September 24-29, 2024.