This year's Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club will be the most Canadian version of the international men's golf event, ever.
Taylor Pendrith, Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes were named to the International Team on Tuesday for the upcoming best-on-best tournament that sees 12 players from around the world — excluding Europe — face 12 golfers from the United States in match-play competition. It's the first time three Canadians have played in the prestigious international event at the same time.
Canadian golf legend Mike Weir used three of his six captain's selections on Pendrith, Conners and Hughes. He also picked South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout, South Korea's Si Woo Kim and Australia's Min Woo Lee to be on his team.
Weir, who is from Brights Grove, Ont., said it was a nice bonus to have the most-ever Canadians on the International Team when Royal Montreal hosts the Presidents Cup from Sept. 24-29, but the decision was based purely on putting forward the most competitive team possible.
"You have to be fair to the whole international community. I think I was very justified on the three (Canadian) picks," said Weir after practice with the captain's picks at Royal Montreal. "I think it just shows the state of Canadian golf that we can pick three for five or six guys that were in the mix.
"You do want the Canadian fans. I think they're going to be very engaged with all our International players but having some Canadians on there brings a little bit more juice, so to speak, to our team."
Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, Korea's Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun An, as well as Australia's Adam Scott and Jason Day had already been automatically selected as the top six golfers on the International Team rankings following the completion of the BMW Championship on Aug. 25.
Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, both from Abbotsford, B.C., had been vying to join the team but missed out. Weir said that it was tough to not include them on the team and have four or even five Canadians playing on home soil.
"Both those calls to those guys were extremely difficult," said Weir. "The way they handled it just showed me a lot about their character, which I already knew, but even made me respect them even more.
"I just told them that they're going to be on these Cups going forward, and stay engaged with this Presidents Cup team."
Weir's International side will face off against Jim Furyk's U.S. squad in the match-play competition.
Furyk named his six captain's picks to the U.S. team shortly after Weir's announcement. Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Russell Henley and Max Homa were all added to the squad.
They join world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 2 Xander Schauffele, No. 4 Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala.
Furyk said it was a long process to settle on his lineup after being appointed captain a year ago.
"It seems like the train is moving really slowly to get to this point but it picks up a lot of speed for the next three weeks getting us to Royal Montreal," he said. "Good to have 12 guys on our team.
"I know they're bonding, gelling, talking a lot about the event, and now we'll put some finishing touches on our pairings and getting these guys ready to go in three weeks."
The U.S. beat the Internationals 17 1/2 to 12 1/2 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte in 2022. It was the Americans' ninth consecutive victory at the event.
Indeed, the International team has only won the event once in 14 tries, emerging victorious at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1998 when captain Peter Thompson led them to a 20 1/2 - 11 1/2 triumph over Jack Nicklaus's American squad.
"I don't spend a lot of time thinking about how many years it's been, but I think the things we've done to increase our chances are a lot of the little things behind the scenes," said Weir. "It's no secret that we've struggled to form unity with all the cultural differences and things the International Team has had to deal with over the years.
"That's why we've implemented a lot more engagement amongst the players playing practice rounds and us doing some dinners to get the guys together to get more familiar with one another."
The three Canadians have that familiarity baked in. All three grew up playing against each other in Ontario junior competitions and then attended Kent State University together.
Their playing styles are complementary as well.
Pendrith, from Richmond Hill, Ont., has one of the biggest drivers on the PGA Tour. Conners, from Listowel, Ont., is arguably the best ball striker in the world. Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., is renowned for his accuracy with his putter.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2024.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
