Five Canadians in Presidents Cup? It’s possible, Captain Mike Weir says

ANCASTER, Ontario – How many Canadians could compete in this fall’s Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal?

“There’s a chance to be two, three, maybe four,” said International Team Captain Mike Weir at this week’s RBC Canadian Open. “Maybe five if there’s some great play coming up.”

This week’s RBC Canadian Open has been abuzz with Presidents Cup discussion, as several Canadians are jockeying for spots on Captain Weir’s squad. Six Canadians are ranked inside the top 100 on the Official World Golf Ranking – led by No. 30 Nick Taylor, who famously won last year’s RBC Canadian Open to break a 69-year winless drought for Canadians at their national open. He’s joined by Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, Taylor Pendrith, Mackenzie Hughes and Adam Svensson in the top 100, and they’re all hungry to compete in Canada’s first Presidents Cup since 2007 – for the International Team’s first Canadian captain.

“When I see him at tournaments or here this week, it's fun to think about how that dynamic would be in Montreal and having him as my captain,” Hughes said this week. “He’s been great. Masters practice rounds and all that sort of stuff, when he's been giving us great advice. He's always there if we need something from him. I think all the Canadian guys out here now on TOUR kind of feel that sort of godfather-like figure, always kind of there if you need him.”

In that 2007 Presidents Cup, Weir defeated Tiger Woods in a Sunday Singles match at Royal Montreal, a memorable moment in Canadian golf history despite the International Team’s defeat to the U.S. Team, 19.5-14.5. It’s a bright spot in a difficult Presidents Cup history for the International Team, which has compiled a 1-12-1 overall record in the biannual event. The International Team built momentum in 2022 at Quail Hollow with a spirited weekend rally and the breakout stardom of Tom Kim, who debuted at age 20 with palpable energy. Longtime team leader Adam Scott also figures to be around this fall; Weir confirmed Wednesday that Scott is top-of-mind for a team leadership role. The squad will be comprised of six automatic qualifiers (from the Official World Golf Ranking through the BMW Championship) and six captain’s selections. If qualification ended today, the automatic qualifiers would be Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day, Byeong Hun An, Tom Kim, Taylor and Sungjae Im.

There have never been more than two Canadians on a single International Team (the Presidents Cup dates to 1994). Weir was the first Canadian to compete, in 2000, which marked his first of five consecutive appearances as a player. He transitioned into a role as assistant captain, and this year at Royal Montreal he will assume role as captain.

It’s a fascinating question in golf circles: how will Weir balance emotion with statistics when making his captain’s selections? It’s fun to think about a heavy Canadian presence on the team, of course, but it’s also his responsibility to field the most competitive side possible.

“There's team chemistry, that's one. There’s who is playing well at the time. You want guys playing well; you don't want guys backing into a spot on the team,” Weir said Wednesday. “You want guys kind of moving up. You want good short-game guys. I mean, these matches always come down to key short-game shots, key putts made, key moments. Each match is like a mini-major; that's kind of the feel you have out there when you're playing these matches, the intensity. You make a big putt to halve a guy or you chip one in, those are big things that can happen with just short game. So, those are all the things that we look at, and we'll be talking about as it starts to get a little bit closer.”

The Canadian contenders would relish the opportunity to compete for Weir, who was “a rock star” for Canadian golf in his prime, as Hughes put it.

Hughes remembers caddying in Weir’s pro-am group at the 2004 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey. Hughes was 13 and signed up to caddie for an amateur; he was placed in Weir’s group in a random draw. The two-time TOUR winner laughs now when remembering that day, trying to stay as close to Weir as possible. “I was doing a horrendous job caddying,” he said Wednesday. “I asked him a few questions … at that time, his popularity in Canada was through the roof.”

Weir knows how badly Hughes wanted to be on the International Team in 2022, and Hughes would love nothing more than to play for Weir this fall. Looking back, Hughes admits that the pressure of making that team perhaps affected him in the final few weeks of qualification. He looks forward to taking a different approach this summer, with Weir’s support along the way.

“He's reached out a few different times to just basically tell me … to go play golf and to not worry about it, to kind of make sure that I'm not chasing it too hard, because he knows how much I want it,” Hughes said Wednesday. “That's been great.”

A few weeks back, Pendrith received a text from Weir on the morning of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson’s final round, encouraging him to “play his game and go have fun.” The words were simple but the message was profound: one of his golf heroes was following along. Pendrith proceeded to make birdie on the 72nd hole for his first TOUR title.

“That meant a lot,” Pendrith said. “Obviously he's somebody who I look up to a lot. He's a legend in Canada. So it's cool to have a relationship with him.”

In turn, Weir enjoys seeing his fellow Canadians – a generation later – competing for spots on his team. They grew up watching him, hoping that he could snap the decades-long drought of Canadians to win the RBC Canadian Open. Weir came close, including a playoff loss to Vijay Singh in 2004, but never quite got there. Taylor got there in 2023, and now he’s on the inside track to compete for Weir this fall.

Whether it’s two, three, four – or five – Canadians – Weir will relish the chance to be their captain.

“It’s really cool,” Weir said Wednesday. “They're playing well and hopefully those guys keep continuing to play well, and then it makes my decision easier if they keep playing well … There are a couple guys just kind of creeping down into the mid-teens there (in the International Team standings), but if they play well, a lot of things can happen.

“Taylor Pendrith wins and he goes from somewhere in the 20s right up to about 14 or something. So, you have some good weeks, you can leapfrog a lot of guys. There are still a couple majors left, some Signature Events, so … there's going to be a lot of movement here in the next couple of months.”