The Presidents Cup once again fell the way of the United States, as they saw off their International Team rivals at Royal Montreal Golf Club in the Sunday singles
No LIV players competed at the Presidents Cup (
Image: Getty Images)
The omission of some in-form LIV Golf names could well have cost the International Team dearly, as they fell to another Presidents Cup defeat at the hands of their American rivals.
After a close battle across the opening three days, it was Team USA who edged away, winning six matches and halving three in the Sunday singles to win the event 18.5-11.5. It was a valiant effort from the Internationals, who despite being huge underdogs, kept themselves well in it heading into the final day.
This came after they were whitewashed 5-0 in the opening session on Thursday, but impressively gave the Americans a taste of their own medicine a day later, taking a clean sweep on Friday to level things up at 5-5.
A fiery Saturday then saw the USA take a 11-7 lead, before they proved too good a day later to get their hands on a 10th-straight Presidents Cup crown. Despite the valiant efforts of Mike Weir’s team, it was a case of what might of been for the Internationals, who had a number of big names missing.
With the Presidents Cup a PGA Tour -sanctioned event, all members of the LIV setup are banned from competing. Whilst this left out the likes of Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau on the US team, the snub appeared to hit the Internationals harder amid the depth of American talent on the PGA Tour.
Most notably the Internationals were without arguably one of their most in-form players in Joaquin Niemann. The Chilean became the man to catch on the LIV circuit, winning two of the first three 2024 events on the breakaway circuit, and in impressive fashion too.
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Joaquin Niemann missed the Presidents Cup ( Getty Images)
His hot run of form saw him lead the league’s season-long standings for the large majority of the campaign, before he was chased down by eventual champion Jon Rahm, who finished his season first-second-first. Rahm pipped at the final event was Niemann in Chicago, as the leading pair took the Order of Merit race right down the wire.
And whilst he missed out on the year-long crown, there is no doubt the Chilean’s form would have made him a shoo-in in Weir’s team if eligible. Another key omission was that of Cam Smith, who had announced himself as arguably the best player on the planet outside of the US and Europe in recent years.
The 2022 Open champion and former world No. 2, Smith became central to the International setup at the 2019 Presidents Cup on home soil in Australia. It was expected that he would continue this talisman role in the years to come, but his move to LIV two years ago has seen the Internationals lose one their star men.
There is no doubt experience is key on the Presidents Cup stage, which would now doubt have been provided by another former Open champion in Louis Oosthuizen. The South African had been central to the Internationals, playing in four Presidents Cups on the bounce, before losing his spot in 2021 following his Saudi switch.
