Sept 1 (Reuters) – Geoff Ogilvy used half of his captain’s picks on Tuesday to add Presidents Cup rookies Nick Taylor, Nico Echavarria and Ryo Hisatsune to an International Team that will look to snap a lengthy losing streak against a stacked U.S. squad that added some major heft.
Ogilvy also named Canadian Corey Conners, South Korea’s Sungjae Im and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout to his 12-player team who will seek to avoid an 11th consecutive loss to the United States when they meet from September 24-27 in Chicago.
A U.S. team that already included six players inside the top 11 of the world rankings was bolstered with the addition of some major champions as Brandt Snedeker named Justin Thomas and world number 10 Xander Schauffele among his six captain’s picks.
Snedeker also selected Patrick Cantlay and Presidents Cup rookies Chris Gotterup, Jacob Bridgeman and Jackson Koivun.
The 2026 edition of the Presidents Cup, a biennial event that pits a U.S. team against a lineup of international players from outside Europe, will be held at Medinah Country Club’s Course No. 3 and the competition will begin with five fourball matches on the opening day.
The U.S. are 13-1-1 in the Ryder Cup-style competition with their only loss coming at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia in 1998.
World number one Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Collin Morikawa all previously clinched automatic berths on the U.S. team.
“You look to your best players to kind of pull the cart for you and go out there and lead the charge. And so we’re very fortunate on our side,” said Snedeker.
“We have a bunch of great guys in the team room, guys who love to lead, guys who lead by example, guys who lead by being vocal, and they’re all bought in.”
The six automatic spots on the International Team were filled by Kim Si-woo (South Korea), Ryan Fox (New Zealand), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Min Woo Lee (Australia), Tom Kim (South Korea) and Adam Scott (Australia).
Ogilvy, who has served as a captain’s assistant in four previous Presidents Cups, feels his team have the perfect balance and he is looking forward to the challenge that awaits at Medinah.
“I don’t think I’ve had 12 guys more enthusiastic and more energetic at this point of the tournament than we have this time,” said Ogilvy.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in TorontoEditing by Toby Davis)
Comments