Davis Love III’s Team USA are likely to start as strong favourites to retain the Presidents Cup when they take on Trevor Immelman’s Internationals, with both line-ups now finalised ahead of the Quail Hollow clash later this month.
The two teams were finalised this week with the captain’s picks, and while both have had to cope without some big names defecting to LIV Golf, the USA team still looks much stronger. Headed by World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, the American side contains five of the top 10 ranked players in the world, with Collin Morikawa (8th) added to automatic qualifiers Patrick Cantlay (4th), Xander Schauffele (5th) and Justin Thomas (7th).
Will Zalatoris (9th) is unavailable through injury, but Sam Burns (12th), Jordan Spieth (13th), Tony Finau (14th) and Billy Horschel (15th) are all on the cusp of a top-10 spot too. Cam Young, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner, ranked 17th, 20th and 26th respectively, make up the rest of Davis Love III’s roster, giving Team USA an average world ranking of 11.8.
While Dustin Johnson, currently ranked 22nd, would have brought that average down slightly, and he and Brooks Koepka (28th) would arguably have maintained spots in the top 20 if they had stayed on the PGA Tour and not moved to LIV, where ranking points are not awarded, the strength of Love’s side is largely unaffected by Greg Norman’s new tour.
The same cannot be said of Immelman’s International Team. The South African has no top-10 ranked players, with Hideki Matsuyama (16th), Sungjae Im (18th), Tom Kim (21st) and Corey Conners (25th) the only players ranked above the USA’s lowest player, Kevin Kisner. Open champion Cameron Smith, the World No.2, was among the latest group of LIV defections, and, along with Joaquin Niemann (19th) and possibly Marc Leishman (62nd), was likely to be part of Immelman’s team. With the likes of LIV’s Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Carlos Ortiz and Abraham Ancer already sidelined, all three became unavailable the moment they teed off last week at LIV Boston.
The average ranking of the International Team is 48.75, showing the gulf in class, at least on paper. The two sides meet in Charlotte, North Carolina, between 20-25 September in the biennial four-day team event. Tiger Woods led the US to a 16-14 win in 2019 at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia, extending the American lead to 11 wins, one loss and one tie.
Team USA - Presidents Cup
- Scottie Scheffler
- Patrick Cantlay
- Xander Schauffele
- Sam Burns
- Justin Thomas
- Tony Finau
- Collin Morikawa
- Jordan Spieth
- Billy Horschel
- Cameron Young
- Max Homa
- Kevin Kisner
International Team - Presidents Cup
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Adam Scott
- Sungjae Im
- Tom Kim
- Corey Conners
- Mito Pereira
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout
- Cam Davis
- Si Woo Kim
- K.H Lee
- Sebastian Muñoz
- Taylor Pendrith
