The Five: Takeaways from Presidents Cup captain’s picks

The Presidents Cup teams are complete.

U.S. Team Captain Jim Furyk and International Team Captain Mike Weir announced their captain’s picks Tuesday afternoon, less than three weeks before the teams are set to arrive at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

Furyk selected Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley, Brian Harman and Max Homa. They join the six automatic qualifiers – Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala – who accumulated the most Presidents Cup points over the last two years.

Weir selected Corey Conners, Min Woo Lee, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Taylor Pendrith, Si Woo Kim and Mackenzie Hughes to round out the International Team. They join the six automatic qualifiers – Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim and Byeong Hun An – who qualified via the Official World Golf Ranking.

Captain’s picks are always an intriguing exercise because the leaders of each team must consider a myriad of factors when making their selections. There are always a few surprises and the inevitable snubs.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s captain’s picks announcements:

1. A Canuck conundrum

The Presidents Cup is in Canada for the first time since 2007 and it’s safe to say Weir, the first Canadian to win a major championship, made sure there would be a significant Canadian contingent to mark the occasion.

He also had to make some tough calls, though.

There were no Canadians among the International Team’s six automatic qualifiers, but half of Weir’s six captain’s picks went to his countrymen – Conners, Pendrith and Hughes. There was one notable absence: national hero Nick Taylor, who last year became the first Canadian in nearly 70 years to win his country’s national championship. Taylor also won this year’s WM Phoenix Open, but his game had been trending in the wrong direction since. Adam Hadwin, who finished 13th on the International Team’s points list, also was left off the team.

Taylor was once considered a favorite to make the International Team, rising as high as sixth in the FedExCup and 24th in the OWGR after his victory in February, but a summer swoon kept him off Weir’s team. Taylor missed half his cuts over the latter part of the season, without a top-10 since the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

In Conners, Pendrith and Hughes, Weir covered a few different bases. Conners is among the most accurate ball-strikers on TOUR, while Pendrith and Hughes’ putting ability gives the International Team a pair of top-level skills to mix and match pairings in Foursomes and Four-Ball. Pendrith also ranks eighth in Driving Distance, which makes him a good alternate-shot partner for an accurate iron player.

The International Team will be a heavy underdog once again, but in a scenario where they pull off an upset, embracing the home crowd and its top golfers is likely a part of it. It also brings with it immense pressure for the Canadian players.

2. No JT

The most surprising name that wasn’t announced Tuesday? Justin Thomas.

He’s become a staple in the U.S. national events, but for the first time since the 2016 Ryder Cup, he will watch from home.

Thomas, who’s played three times apiece in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, was left off of Furyk’s captain’s picks. Thomas was hindered most by his 2023 season, which dropped him well down the points list. He played much better in 2024, but not well enough to crack the top 12. He finished 19th in the United States Presidents Cup standings.

He was playing better this year than he was in 2023 when he was a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup team, though, which makes his omission a bit of a surprise. Thomas qualified for the 2024 TOUR Championship after failing to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs last year.

Thomas is 18-7-4 in national team matches.

“There are so many guys that are deserving,” Thomas said last week. “There'll be three, four guys that don't get picked that are very deserving whether they're here or not.”

Thomas was one of them.

3. A strokes gained gamble

As Trevor Immelman looked back at the 2022 Presidents Cup, his team’s putting performance kept coming to mind.

“I was convinced that putting would be the difference between us winning and losing, and when you look at the data that we collected throughout that Presidents Cup, the American team was plus-28 strokes gained on the greens and we were plus-5,” Immelman told PGATOUR.COM later that year. “They demolished us on the greens.”

Immelman passed on Hughes, who ranked 14th in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2022, to pick players lower than him on the points list.

With Immelman working closely alongside this year’s International Team as a captain’s assistant, it’s safe to assume that has stuck in his mind. And it bore out interestingly with Weir’s captain’s picks.

Hughes and Pendrith both ranked in the top 10 of Strokes Gained: Putting last year, while Bezuidenhout was 20th. Pendrith improved nearly 100 spots in that statistic over last year. Lee, Conners and Kim all ranked outside the top 100 in Strokes Gained: Putting this season.

With three captain’s picks, along with Day and Scott, inside the top 30 in Strokes Gained: Putting this season, the Internationals could put at least one elite putter in every match. But they are taking some risks with their other putters, many of whom rank outside the top 100. That creates the potential for significant volatility.

4. But a number

Furyk’s selections drove up the average age of the U.S. team, though it’s still the third-youngest U.S. team in Presidents Cup history. The average age of the six U.S. captain’s picks is 34.2 (compared to 28.8 for the six automatic qualifiers).

Burns, 28, is the only captain’s pick under the age of 30, and he’s also one of the hottest players on the roster. He shot the low combined score for the 12 rounds of the FedExCup Playoffs, finishing fifth at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and runner-up at the BMW Championship. Burns is playing on his third consecutive U.S. team, as is Max Homa, who also was a pick. Tony Finau is the only pick with a longer streak of U.S. representation, having played on the previous four U.S. teams. This year will mark his fifth U.S. Team in a row.

Russell Henley, 35, is the only captain’s pick playing on his first U.S. national team as a pro. His former Georgia teammate, Brian Harman, is making his Presidents Cup debut after playing in last year’s Ryder Cup. Keegan Bradley, winner of the BMW Championship, will be playing on his first U.S. team in a decade after representing the U.S. from 2012-14.

The team’s overall average age of 31.5 is nearly two years older than the 2022 U.S. Team, but this will be the fourth consecutive U.S. squad with an average under 32; none of the 11 U.S. Presidents Cup teams before 2017 had an average age under 32.

5. Two different approaches

The U.S. Team firmly followed the Presidents Cup points standings. Furyk selected Nos. 7-12 on the standings list, resisting the urge to select a national team mainstay like Thomas or add a young star like Akshay Bhatia.

The Internationals did the opposite, selecting a pair of players from outside the top 12, both of whom did not qualify for the TOUR Championship.

Si Woo Kim and Mackenzie Hughes ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, but were selected ahead of Cam Davis (eighth in the standings), Nick Taylor (12th) and Adam Hadwin (13th).

Kim proved to be an excellent player for the Internationals in 2022, one of only three players with a winning record. His week was highlighted by a singles victory over Justin Thomas, in which Kim shushed the crowd. He finished 3-0-1 for the week. With Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim returning, the emotional center of the 2022 Presidents Cup has returned. Add in Lee, who brings his own flare, and the Internationals have a trio of eccentric and intense golfers to rally around.

Hughes, as previously mentioned, brings the home country presence and solid putting that likely elevated him above other options.