Canada's Conners, Pendrith, Hughes selected for Presidents Cup team
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Canadians Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes have all been chosen to compete at the Presidents Cup at the end of month as part of the International team.
Captain Mike Weir selected the three Canadians Tuesday, in addition to South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Australia's Min Woo Lee and South Korea's Si Woo Kim.
The top six eligible players on the Official World Golf Ranking point system following the BMW Championship automatically qualified for the Presidents Cup. That list included Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, South Korea's Sungjae Im, Tom Kim and Byeong Hun An as well as Adam Scott and Jason Day of Australia.
Weir, a Canadian golf legend after winning the 2003 Masters, was tasked with filling out the roster with six captain picks following this past weekend's season-ending Tour Championship.
Conners of Listowel, Ont., and Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., were both likely to make the team after strong 2024 seasons.
Conners, 32, is seventh on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) point system, just one spot away from earning automatic qualification. He has made the cut in all of his 22 events, finishing in the top-25 12 times and in the top-10 on three occasions.
Pendrith, ranked 11th on the OWGR, is probably Canada's hottest golfer since late July, finishing fifth at the Barracuda Championship and 3M Open, 22nd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, 13th at the BMW Championship and 14th at the Tour Championship. The 33-year-old, who won his first PGA Tour event in early May at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, was also the only Canadian that qualified for the exclusive 30-player Tour Championship
Conners and Pendrith both represented Canada at the 2022 Presidents Cup from Quail Hollow Club. Each posted 0-4 records and weren’t able to record a single point as the International team lost 17.5-12.5.
Hamilton's Hughes is ranked 15th on the OWGR, below Nick Taylor (12th) and Adam Hadwin (13th), but still received the selection from Weir as the third Canadian.
The 33-year-old has made 18 of 22 cuts this season, including seven top-25 finishes and three top-10 finishes.
Hughes did not qualify for the BWM Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs after a 58th-place finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Non-Canadian selections
Lee, of Australia, is ranked ninth on the OWGR and joins fellow Aussies Jason Day and Adam Scott on the International squad.
The 26-year-old did not qualify for the BMW Championship and has two runner-up finishes this season, the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches in March and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in June.
Bezuidenhout, ranked 10th, will be the lone South African on the team. The 30-year-old finished 29th at the Tour Championship and has 12 top-25 finishes in 23 events this season, including one runner-up finish at The American Express back in January.
Bezuidenhout also competed at the 2022 Presidents Cup, finishing with one win and one draw.
Weir went a little off the board with last pick, selecting Si Woo Kim, who is ranked 14th.
Kim joins fellow South Koreans Sungjae Im, Tom Kim and Byeong Hun An, who all automatically qualified, on the International team.
The 29-year-old has won four times on the PGA Tour, but not since January of 2023.
Kim has made the cut in 21 of 23 events in 2024, including three top-25 finishes and two in the top-10. Despite finishing fifth at the BMW Championship, Kim did not qualify for the Tour Championship.
Kim won three of his four matches at the 2022 Presidents Cup.
Jim Furyk makes his picks for Team United States
Jim Furyk, the captain for the heavily favoured United States, announced his selections for the Presidents Cup on Tuesday.
Sam Burns (No. 7 on OWGR), Tony Finau (No. 8), Russell Henley (No. 9), Keegan Bradley (No. 10), Brian Harman (No. 11) and Max Homa (No. 12) were all selected to fill out the roster.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala all booked their spots via their top six ranking on the OWGR.
Presidents Cup returns to Canada
The International side has a lone win since the first Presidents Cup in 1994, beating the Americans in 1998 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The United States have won the competition, which takes place every two years, 12 times in 14 tries, including the past nine. The 2003 Presidents Cup ended in a tie.
The 2003 Presidents Cup ended in a tie.
Royal Montreal hosted the 2007 Presidents Cup, the only previous time the event was held in Canada. Weir was on that squad and despite his side losing 19.5-14.5, Weir gave fans across the country something to cheer about when he defeated the great Tiger Woods during a head-to-head matchup on Sunday.