Canadian pair in ‘Presidents’ mood
Can a spot in December’s Presidents Cup possibly come down to just one week?
That could be the feeling for players — including Canadians Adam Hadwin and Corey Conners — who are hoping to land a captain’s pick next week as play begins on Thursday in China at the WGC HSBC Champions.
International captain Ernie Els is scheduled to announce his four selections on Nov. 6, with American captain Tiger Woods making his picks a day later.
Both Hadwin and Conners planned their fall schedules around the selection process. Hadwin said before the season that he’s not much of a goal-setter, but this was an exception.
“It’s kind of priority
No. 1,” he told Postmedia earlier in the fall. “To get out of the gates and play well and make sure I make a strong case for captain’s pick for that. I had just an incredible time in New York a couple years ago.”
After shooting a Sunday 63 in Las Vegas a month ago, Hadwin had a message for captain Els: “Hey, I’m here, Ernie.”
The 31-year-old has played three tournaments this season, finishing 2nd, T4, T41. His world ranking has jumped to 44th after finishing the playoffs in August ranked 68th.
Conners heads to China after strong finishes at the first two events of the PGA Tour’s Asian swing.
The 27-year-old finished T12 at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges in Korea, and T6 last week in Japan at the Zozo Championship.
He has finished inside the top 15 in his past three tournaments. His world rank jumped 11 spots this week to a career-high 56th.
“I’m trying to do everything I can,” Conners said in Japan. “I feel like my game’s really good. I’ve had a really consistent year and starting to play really nice, so just trying to focus on playing good golf and hopefully make it difficult for Captain Els.”
The biennial event has long played second fiddle to the Europe vs. U.S. Ryder Cup. But to players on the International squad the Presidents Cup is the biggest team event they can play and often a highlight of a career, even for a major champion. In the euphoria of victory, Mike Weir described his win in Presidents Cup singles over Woods at Royal Montreal in 2007 as “right there” with his Masters win.
It didn’t matter that the U.S. had already clinched the cup at that point.
Weir is one of Els’ assistant captains this year and he should have at least one of the Canadians to keep an eye on at Royal Melbourne in December. He could have two, although we are guessing it’s unlikely. So, who will captain Els pick?
Before that, let’s briefly look at the American picks.
Woods’ decisive win last week in Japan took away any controversy with him picking himself, so we’ll assume he’s playing. That leaves three spots.
Of players who didn’t automatically qualify through the point system, fan and teammate favourite Rickie Fowler is a lock. That likely leaves spots for two of Patrick Reed, Tony Finau, Kevin Na, Jordan Spieth and Gary Woodland. The Americans never have a shortage of strong choices.
Notably absent is Phil Mickelson, who reiterated on Wednesday that he isn’t deserving of a selection.
Mickelson has played in every Presidents Cup since the event began in 1994.
“I’ve played terribly this year, and even if I were to win this week, I do not deserve or warrant a pick for the Presidents Cup,” Mickelson said in China.
Back to the Internationals.
The one sure-thing is Australian Jason Day. At 28th in the world, Day is the highest ranked player of the contenders for a captain’s pick. He has played in four Presidents Cups and has plenty of knowledge to pass on about Royal Melbourne.
A near-lock to be picked is reigning PGA Tour rookieof-the-year Sungjae Im. The 21-year-old is ranked 34th in the world and is coming off a T3 at the Zozo. He finished second at last month’s Sanderson Farms Championship and three weeks ago added a win on the Korean Tour.
Next in line, according to the world rankings, is Byeong-hun An. Ranked 41st in the world, An is coming off back-to-back top10s at the CJ Cup and the Zozo. The 28-year-old hasn’t won on the PGA Tour, but has six top-10s in 2019. An was mentioned by name by Els in August: “He’s one of the supreme ball strikers around the world, which I really love and which you need to do in Melbourne. … He’s on kind of my favourite list.”
That gets us to Hadwin, who also was mentioned by Els, and has followed it up with strong play this fall.
Of players who deserve a serious look from Els, only Hadwin and Day have prior Presidents Cup experience. That could be relevant since four of the eight automatic qualifiers are rookies (Abraham Ancer, Haotong Li,
C.T. Pan, Cameron Smith).
Conners is in fine form and finished last season first in proximity to the hole and first in greens in regulation.
If Els wants a ball-striker, perhaps Conners gets a pick. Unfortunately, the most likely scenario as we see it, is that Hadwin and Conners are fighting for the same spot. For both to get picked, Els would have to overlook An, who besides being legitimately qualified, is a logical fit with fellow South Korean Im.
Nationality and language play a part in the selection process and a lone Canadian could more easily mesh with the rest of the team.
There are long shots including Japan’s Shugo Imahira and Chile’s young star Joaquin Niemann. Els also has mentioned fellow South African’s Branden Grace and Erik van Rooyen. Of those four, only van Rooyen is in the field this week. We don’t know if Els has made up his mind, but we do know that players have one last chance to change it.