No automatic Presidents Cup spots for SA golfers

For the first time in Presidents Cup history, no South African golfer has automatically qualified for the International team ahead of next month's biennial event at Quail Hollow Club.

The team comprises the top eight players from the Presidents Cup International team points list, followed by four selections made by the captain.

The International team will be captained by South Africa's 2008 Masters champion, Trevor Immelman, with Davis Love III leading the US team.

Since its inception in 1994, at least one South African golfer had qualified before the captains named their picks. However, with only one win in 2022 season so far on the DP World Tour for SA's golfers has seen them fall down the world rankings.

South Africa's top-ranked golfer, Louis Oosthuizen, who was the country's sole golfer at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, was ineligible to compete in his fifth Presidents Cup after signing with the controversial LIV Golf Invitational Series this year.

"I'm not going to lie, it hurts us immensely. Louis Oosthuizen and Abraham Ancer were two integral parts of the International Team. Louis, because he is so experienced. He's played a number of Presidents Cups," Immelman told GolfWeek.

"He still has what it takes to compete at the highest level, under the most pressure. He proved that in the way he played in the major championships last year. Over and above the way he plays, he is one of the leaders in the locker room.

"He's extremely approachable, he's funny as heck, he has an amazing personality and people gravitate towards him in the locker room. So it's a massive loss on and off the golf course."

So far, Immelman's International side will consist of Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Joaquin Niemann, Tom Kim, Corey Conners, Adam Scott and Mito Pereira.

Immelman will finalise his 12-man roster on 6 September with his four wild card selections, but things could change.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (62), Dean Burmester (69) and Erik van Rooyen (84) are the only other South Africans in the top 100 of the world golf rankings that could be considered for Immelman's team.

Meanwhile, other LIV Golf South Africans not ineligible include Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel, Justin Harding, Shaun Norris and Hennie du Plessis.

World number two Smith, who is the reigning Open Championship champion, is reportedly set to join LIV Golf following the conclusion of the FedEx Cup playoffs at East Lake this week.

If the Aussie jumps ship to the rebel series, he will subsequently be suspended by the PGA Tour and not be allowed to compete in Immelman's team as the Presidents Cup is a PGA Tour-run team competition.

Meanwhile, the US team so far features world number one Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau, with Love set to round out his team with six captains picks on 7 September.

The Presidents Cup will be played from 22-25 September at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, with US President Joe Biden, an honorary chairperson for the 14th event.

The US team has won 11 of the 13 previous Presidents Cups, and the only win by the International Team came at the 1998 event in Melbourne. There was a historic 17-17 tie in 2003 when the event was held in South Africa.