Ernie Els Announces Presidents Cup Captain's Picks

The Big Easy's International Team is finalised for the December match in Melbourne

Ernie Els Announces Presidents Cup Captain's Picks

Ernie Els' 2019 Presidents Cup International Team is finalised after the Big Easy chose his four wildcards.

Els went for 2015 USPGA Champion and former World No.1 Jason Day, PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Sungjae Im, Greenbrier winner Joaquin Niemann and PGA Tour winner Adam Hadwin.

The Big Easy was expected to name Day, Im and Niemann but Hadwin's pick came as a surprise with Ben An expected to get the nod.

The four picks complete the team:

Hideki Matsuyama Adam Scott Louis Oosthuizen Marc Leishman Abraham Ancer Haotong Li Cameron Smith CT Pan Jason Day Sungjae Im Joaquin Niemann Adam Hadwin

For the first time in Presidents Cup history, each captain makes four captain’s picks instead of two, with USA captain Tiger Woods selecting his four picks today.

Woods is expected to pick himself and said that "the player definitely got the captain’s attention," after winning the Zozo Championship recently.

Patrick Reed, Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, Kevin Na and Rickie Fowler are the other names in contention for the four spots.

Els will lead the youngest International Team in Presidents Cup history, with the average age of his 12 players totaling just over 29 years old.

This is also the fourth consecutive International Team that has been younger than the previous side.

With these picks, this will also be the most diverse International Team in Presidents Cup history, with players from Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, Mexico and South Africa.

This is the first time that the International Team will include players from China, Mexico, Chinese Taipei and Chile.

Host country Australia has four players set to compete at Royal Melbourne, with Day joining Leishman, Scott and Smith.

The Internationals are looking to win the Presidents Cup for the second time after winning in 1998 at Royal Melbourne.

The 2003 event was a tie, with the USA winning 10 of the 12 matches including last time out at Liberty National in New York, where Steve Stricker's side won 19-11 and almost won before the final day.

The match takes place from 12th-15th December at Royal Melbourne.

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