Despite a dramatic ending to the BMW Championship with Keegan Bradley barely hanging on, the top six in the U.S. Presidents Cup standings remained unchanged when the qualifying period for the six automatic berths ended Sunday.
Coming into this week, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Teegale all occupied the coveted spots and held onto them through the weekend. All six will be selected for Captain Jim Furyk's U.S. team, and while players like Bradley and Sam Burns may not have made the top six, their recent form won't go to waste. Furyk will select his six captains on September 3, and recent form will undoubtedly be one of his most important criteria. The entire 12-man team will travel to Royal Montreal for the 15th Presidents Cup from September 26-29.
Overseas, local captain Mike Weir has also lined up his first six players as the automatic qualifying rounds concluded on Sunday. He will be joined by leading player Hideki Matsuyama, who remains at the top by a large margin, as well as Tom Kim, Sungjae Lim, Jason Day, Adam Scott and Byung-hun Ahn. Like Furyk, Weir will announce his captain's six on September 3 after the conclusion of the Tour Championship. Weir's selection will be broadcast live on the Golf Channel at 1pm ET, followed by the US selection an hour later.
Two of the U.S. automatic selections, Wyndham Clark and Sahith Teegala, are Presidents Cup rookies, Scheffler (0-3-1) and Morikawa (2-1-0) are making their second appearances, and Schauffele (6-3-0) and Cantlay (6-3-0) are good friends and partners making their third appearance.
Among the international competitors, Adam Scott (18-25-6) has a record of Presidents Cup appearances that is hardly the word “veteran.” Scott is one appearance away from matching Phil Mickelson's record of 12 appearances. Compatriot Jason Day (5-11-4) has been selected for five teams but has only played four times since withdrawing from the 2019 tournament. Matsuyama (7-10-5) will be playing in his sixth Presidents Cup, Ahn (1-2-2) in his second, Tom Kim (2-3) in his second after a big performance at Quail Hollow in 2022, and Lim Sung-jae (5-3-2) in his third.
Several big names from both teams, including Bradley, Burns and Tony Finau, will be competing for the captaincy nomination between now and next week, but Weir will be keeping an eye on a few other big names, including Canada's Corey Connors and Nick Taylor, who are seventh and 11th respectively in the standings, and Australia's Ming Woo Lee, who is eighth.
