Asian Quartet on Course for Presidents Cup

Montreal, Canada: With just over 100 days to go until the Presidents Cup returns to The Royal Montreal Golf Club, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and the Korean trio of Tom Kim, An Byeong-hun and Im Sung-jae are poised to automatically qualify for the International Team.

The Asian quartet are presently ranked first, third, fourth and fifth respectively on the International Team rankings following the conclusion of last week’s Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.

The top-six will earn places in Mike Weir’s team following the conclusion of the BMW Championship. Weir will have six Captain’s Picks to round up his 12-man team to face the United States Team from September 24-29.

Australian Jason Day (second) and Canadian Nick Taylor (sixth) currently occupy the other automatic spots as the race to qualify for the Presidents Cup heats up.

Two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) winner Matsuyama, who has made every International Team since his debut appearance in 2013, cemented his top-ranked position following a tied eighth finish at the Memorial Tournament. Im, who also finished equal eighth, rose one rung to fifth as he seeks a third team appearance.

“If I get to join the International Team again, it will be my third Presidents Cup. I will try my best to help secure a win over Team USA. I’m proud of being part of the Presidents Cup,” said Im, a two-time PGA Tour winner who was part of the four-man Korean team that struck gold in last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games.

After bursting onto the scene with a fiery debut in 2022 at Quail Hollow where he contributed two points, Tom Kim, a three-time PGA Tour winner, will be fighting hard to stay remain in the top-six while An, who has one appearance in 2019, has enjoyed a stellar season with five top-10s.

Another Korean, Kim Si-woo, who featured in the 2017 and 2022 editions, sits in 10th place while Japan’s Keita Nakajima, an ex-AAC winner who won the Hero Indian Open on the DP World Tour in March, is ranked 19th.

Min Woo Lee of Australia, who has one runner-up finish and five top-30s in his first full season on the PGA Tour, and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who has three top-10s, presently rank eighth and 13th respectively on the standings as they chase their first International Team appearance.

Lee said: “I wanted to make it (the Presidents Cup) a couple of years ago and felt like I just missed out by maybe a couple of people, so had a little bit of fire in my belly.

“I just want to represent Australia, the International Team and play some team sports. It would be good to have a locker room and to be with guys that I really get along with.”

Australian veteran Adam Scott, who will be making his 92nd consecutive Major appearance at the US Open this week, is currently 14th as he seeks to represent the International Team for the 11th consecutive occasion since his debut in 2003.

Canadian Adam Hadwin’s third-place finish at last week’s Memorial Tournament marked his fifth top-10 on the season, and his best effort on the PGA Tour since a runner-up at the Shriners Children’s Open last October. The week pushed him up six spots to seventh in the International Team standings, which now has six Canadian players inside the top 20.