‘Awful’ run puts Aussie in grave doubt as captain’s LIV wish denied: Pres Cup race explained

With the FedEx Cup playoffs beginning at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis late on Thursday night Australian time, crunch time has arrived for Presidents Cup hopefuls.

Several of the International team and the USA team’s biggest names have already locked in their spots at Medinah in Illinois next month with their strong performances this year.

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But there are a host of stars whose Presidents Cup future remains up in the air.

That includes a pair of Australian former world No.1s, even if Australian International team captain Geoff Ogilvy is all but certain to choose one of them.

Ogilvy will not get all his wishes though as golf’s divide continues to hang over the biennial event.

Meanwhile, the race for a place on the USA team has been ignited by a rising star who has taken the PGA Tour by storm in the past two months.

Here is the State of Play for the Presidents Cup as the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs get underway!

Jason Day of Australia looks on during the second round of the Wyndham Championship 2026 at Sedgefield Country Club on August 07, 2026 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Caleb Bowlin / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP

DAY IN DOUBT

Australia’s Jason Day is going to need a show of faith from countryman Geoff Ogilvy to make it to a sixth Presidents Cup after a tough end to the PGA Tour season.

Day missed the cut at the final event of the regular season, the Wyndham Championship, which was also his first start since The Open last month.

As a result, the 38-year-old’s 18-year streak of reaching the FedEx Cup playoffs came to an end.

His comments after rounds of 71 and 73 to miss the weekend by seven shots offered a fascinating insight into his current state of mind.

“I’m not sad right now,” he told reporters.

Day added: “I’m looking forward to taking some time off. My body’s been really awful actually this year, so just to try and grind through it has been tough,” the 38-year-old said.

“The last two days have been pretty hard to try and get my body ready. I wanted to play like 3M and Detroit and unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything there. Yeah, it was a good streak obviously, but I would have loved to keep the streak going.

“But things happen, you know. You’re not going to keep everything going forever. Best to kind of take some time off, get my body sorted and try and come out next year and play well.”

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The former world No.1’s comments do not suggest he has next month’s Presidents Cup circled on his calendar.

Day has battled back issues since withdrawing midway through his opening round in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills.

He shot a six-over par 41 on the back nine, after teeing off the tenth tee, and pulled the pin after appearing in great discomfort while making par on the first hole.

The Queenslander’s career has been hampered by back issues at times, and he fell to 175th in the world as a result in 2022.

His form has suffered in recent times with the world No.62 also missing the cut at The Open and he has not finished better than tied 38th on the PGA Tour since he came tied 12th at The Masters in April.

It is not exactly a form line that will fill Ogilvy with confidence heading into the Presidents Cup.

Jason Day of Australia and the International Team celebrates during Friday Foursomes on day two of the 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club on September 27, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP

Especially when you add the injury issues into the equation.

It would not be the first time that injury has cost him a place on the International team – Day withdrew with back issues from the 2019 edition at Royal Melbourne.

If he can get his body right, Day could be an important senior member of the team vying to end the US’ stranglehold on the Cup since it was shared in South Africa in 2003.

But the 2006 US Open champion will have no shortage of experience to call upon.

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SCOTT SET TO MAKE HISTORY AGAIN

Adam Scott is a near certainty to make a 12th straight Presidents Cup appearance.

The 46-year-old has infamously never lifted the trophy despite so many battles with the Americans, and he will surely get another chance at breaking that drought.

Scott sits seventh in the International team’s qualifying rankings.

He had been inside the top six — which gains automatic selection — for most of the year but was recently overtaken by Canada’s Corey Conners.

If not on the immense value Scott brings to the team alone, his play on the PGA Tour this year certainly warrants a captain’s pick.

Despite disappointment by missing the cut at the PGA Championship and the US Open, his 100th straight major appearance, Scott sits 29th in the FedEx Cup standings.

He will need to play well across the next fortnight to hold onto his place in the Tour Championship, but Scott will be full of confidence have come tied ninth in The Open at Royal Birkdale in his last start.

The veteran also registered two top five finishes during the PGA Tour season.

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Adam Scott of Australia and the International Team walks to the second green during Sunday Singles on day four of the 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club on September 29, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP

But with the major season done, the Presidents Cup will surely be a bigger carrot dangling in front of Scott than a US$10 million Tour Championship triumph.

“I think I can play for another couple years. I’ve come this far. If I can play in a couple more years and contribute a point, then I’d love to be on a winning Presidents Cup team,” Scott said after the 2024 edition in Canada.

Scott, pending selection, and fellow green jacket winner Hideki Matsuyama are set to be tasked with adding an experience head to an exciting young team.

Fellow Australian Min Woo Lee, who sits 17th in the FedEx Cup standings, is inside the automatic place alongside the likes of Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim.

While New Zealand’s Ryan Fox will also be a certain starter after his Open Championship triumph.

Ogilvy’s six captains pick will be intriguing with Scott, who has been widely touted as a future Presidents Cup captain, sure to have some suggestions.

But Ogilvy’s company did do the redesign at Medinah, so he may have some specialist picks up his slave based off his intricate knowledge of the course.

The cut off for the automatic places on the International team is the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship.

Min Woo Lee (L) and Adam Scott of Australia and the International Team talk on the tenth green during Thursday’s Four-ball matches on day one of the 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club on September 26, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

CAPTAIN’S LIV WISH DENIED

Ogilvy will be unable to call upon Australia’s most in-form golfer, however.

Lucas Herbert shot the equal lowest score ever in a major with his second round 62 at Royal Birkdale.

The 30-year-old finished a share of sixth at The Open after leading at the halfway mark, but his love affair with England continued at LIV Golf’s UK event with a six-shot win last month.

LIV golfers will once again by ineligible for the Presidents Cup, however.

Meaning Herbert and his Ripper GC teammates Cameron Smith, Elvis Smylie and Marc Leishman will be unable to replicate their LIV counterparts in Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton, who all featured in last year’s Ryder Cup.

Lucas Herbert of Rippers GC celebrates victory on day four of LIV Golf United Kingdom Presented by JCB at JCB Golf & Country Club on July 26, 2026 in Uttoxeter, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

The biennial USA-Europe battle is co-owned by the PGA of America and the DP World Tour, so they opened their arms to LIV’s stars.

But the Presidents Cup is owned by the PGA Tour, making it a closed shop.

“It sucks,” Chile’s Joaquin Niemann said in 2024.

“It’s supposed to be the best golfers around the world and they’re not doing that right now.”

Ogilvy almost certainly had the likes of countrymen Smith and Herbert front of mind when he said he hoped for a change in the rules last year.

The 2006 US Open champion said at the time that a compromise from the PGA Tour felt “a little bit closer maybe now than it was two years ago”.

“At some point in the golf world, it’s going to get aligned, and if that happens in the next 16 months, that will be cool because there’s some good players from the international side of things on that side of the ledger,” Ogilvy added.

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International Team Captain, Geoff Ogilvy, poses with the Presidents Cup at Cindy’s Rooftop restaurant, on April 28, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

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RISING STAR THROWS SPANNER INTO USA’S WORKS

US captain Brandt Snedeker may be forced to make a left-field pick following the emergence of a 21-year-old, who only turned professional last month.

Jackson Koivun was the world No.1 amateur but opted out of his final year of university to turn professional after a tied 23rd finish at the US Open in June.

It was a decision that paid off almost instantly with Koivun winning the 3M Open in just his third professional start.

The rising star’s instant impact on the PGA Tour has even nabbed him a place in the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Koivun locked in the 70th and final place in this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship with a tied 29th finish at the Wyndham Championship.

He has made it to the playoffs despite having played only six events.

As a result, there has been a wave of calls for Koivun to be thrust into the US team alongside the likes of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Players champion Cameron Young who top the US standings.

Jackson Koivun of the United States looks on from the fifth tee during the final round of the Wyndham Championship 2026 at Sedgefield Country Club on August 09, 2026 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner even said that Europe wants former world No.4 Snedeker to “make the mistake” of leaving Koivun off the team and denying the youngster the experience before next year’s Ryder Cup in Ireland.

Snedeker admitted in an interview with PGA Tour Radio last month that Koivun is very much on his radar.

“I’m not going to discredit a 21-year-old kid who’s played in, I don’t know, four or five events this year just because he’s been in college,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be doing the team the right service, or him the right service.

“If he goes out and plays great golf in the next four or five weeks, earns a spot and shows that he’s willing to be one of the 12 best players for us, I’d be dumb not to take a really good, hard look at him.”

Jackson Koivun of the United States poses with the Elemental Swing trophy after winning the 3M Open 2026 at TPC Twin Cities on July 26, 2026 in Blaine, Minnesota. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

INTERNATIONAL TEAM STANDINGS

Automatic places (based on world ranking; confirmed after the Tour Championship)

1. Si Woo Kim (KOR)

2. Ryan Fox (NZ)

3. Hideki Matsuyama (JAP)

4. Min Woo Lee (AUS)

5. Tom Kim (KOR)

6. Corey Conners (CAN)

Possible captain’s picks

7. Adam Scott (AUS)

8. Nico Echavarria (COL)

9. Jason Day (AUS)

10. Ryo Hisatsune (JAP)

11. Casey Jarvis (RSA)

12. Nick Taylor (CAN)

13. Sungjae Im (KOR)

14. Aldrich Potgieter (RSA)

15. Jayden Schaper (RSA)

USA TEAM STANDINGS

Automatic places (based on FedEx Cup points; confirmed after the BMW Championship)

1. Scottie Scheffler

2. Cameron Young

3. Russell Henley

4. Sam Burns

5. Ben Griffin

6. Collin Morikawa

Possible captain’s picks

7. Chris Gotterup

8. J.J. Spaun

9. Xander Schauffele

10. Wyndham Clark

11. Justin Thomas

12. Jacob Bridgeman

13. Akshay Bhatia

14. Harris English

15. Ryan Gerard

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