09/01/26 06:45:00
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09/01 18:43 CDT Jackson Koivun added to American team for Presidents Cup 3
months after leaving college
Jackson Koivun added to American team for Presidents Cup 3 months after leaving
college
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) --- Jackson Koivun was added to the U.S. team for
the Presidents Cup on Tuesday just three months after leaving Auburn, one of
two newcomers captain Brandt Snedeker picked for an American team that hasn't
lost in 28 years.
Koivun, who won the 3M Open in his third start as a professional and qualified
for the PGA Tour postseason in just five tournaments, is the first player since
Jordan Spieth in 2013 to start a year without a tour card and play in the
Presidents Cup.
"I'm just happy he took a chance on me. I'm going to give it my all," Koivun
said.
Snedeker also took Presidents Cup newcomer Jacob Bridgeman, who won at Riviera
this year.
Left off the team was Ryan Gerard, the No. 22 player in the world who contended
briefly at the British Open and finished third at the Tour Championship after
sharing the 36-hole lead.
Snedeker said he and his assistants took a hard look at everyone in the mix
before settling on Koivun, a 21-year-old who had such a sterling amateur career
that he could have joined the tour through the PGA Tour University ranking
system after his sophomore year.
"These decisions are always tough," Snedeker said. "It comes down to your gut
instincts on some of these things. You can look at stats all you want, past
performances all you want, but you have to have a feeling. For some reason, I
just had a gut feeling. We'll see how that turns out.
"But I have full confidence he's ready for the challenge."
The six Americans who qualified on points were Scottie Scheffler, Cameron
Young, U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Morikawa and Russell
Henley. Snedeker's other picks were not surprising --- Patrick Cantlay, Xander
Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Chris Gotterup, who has won three times this year.
International captain Geoff Ogilvy picked a pair of Canadians in Corey Conners
and Nick Taylor. He also took Ryo Hisatsune, who turns 23 next week. It will be
the first time since 1998 the International team has two Japanese players, with
Hideki Matsuyama already earning one of the six automatic spots.
The Presidents Cup is Sept. 24-27 at Medinah, which has been entirely renovated
by Ogilvy's Australia-based golf course design company.
Ogilvy didn't have the same depth from which to choose, and two of his options
are South Africans who are European tour members --- Casey Jarvis and Jayden
Schaper, both of whom did their best work early in the season.
He went with Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa, who has a 3-1-1 record in
his two previous appearances; Cognizant Classic winner Nico Echavarria of
Colombia; and Sungjae Im, a staple on the International team since his iron
play wowed teammates at Royal Melbourne in 2019.
They join automatic qualifiers Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim of South Korea, Min Woo
Lee of Australia and British Open champion Ryan Fox.
Also missing from the U.S. team was J.J. Spaun, the 2025 U.S. Open champion who
went 2-1 in his Ryder Cup debut last year. Spaun withdrew from the Tour
Championship with a nagging shoulder injury. Snedeker did not say whether that
was a factor.
Ben Griffin was on the list of qualifiers all year until he was bumped out two
weeks ago by Morikawa. Griffin finished at No. 8 in the standings, but he
finished in the top 10 only once in his last nine tournaments.
Snedeker declined to offer reasons why players weren't chosen, preferring to
focus on the 12 players he brings to Medinah.
"I don't think it's fair to them or fair to the guys who did make it," he said.
Such is the depth of the U.S. team it left off three players from the top 25 in
the world --- Spaun, Gerard and Griffin. The Internationals have only two from
the top 25 in Si Woo Kim and Fox.
Bezuidenhout was 18th in the International standings, but Ogilvy said his low
world ranking (No. 96) didn't paint a full picture. The South African missed
only three cuts, but had only two top 10s.
The International team standings is based on the world ranking.
"He hasn't had a whole lot of high finishes this year, which is where you get
all the world ranking points," Ogilvy said. "But he's finished really solid in
a lot of tournaments, and his strokes gained and all his skill sets when you
measure him up against all of the other players, he was well inside our top 12."
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