The Presidents Cup will tee off Thursday at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, and The disruption of LIV Golf on the PGA Tour–operated team event is still being felt after three full seasons for the controversial circuit.
Comprising two 12-man rosters from the U.S. and foreign countries outside of Europe, both squads this week would likely look different without LIV’s presence, particularly on the international side. LIV players remain banned from PGA Tour events, including the Presidents Cup, despite ongoing negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. “There’s just so many moving pieces in that deal,” top Team USA qualifier Scottie Scheffler said. That differs from the Ryder Cup, which is managed by the PGA of America and European Tour and does not have an explicit ban on LIV members.
The last Presidents Cup before the men’s professional game became fractured was in 2019, when eight players who are now on LIV competed in Australia (five internationals, three Americans), as the Tiger Woods–captained U.S. team came from behind to win 16–14 on the final day. A ninth now-LIV player, Brooks Koepka, made the U.S. team but withdrew due to injury.
At the 2022 Presidents Cup (delayed one year by the COVID-19 pandemic), top international qualifier Cam Smith was ineligible due to his late-summer move to LIV. So was No. 4 qualifier Joaquín Niemann. With stronger depth to withstand LIV defections (like Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Dustin Johnson), the U.S. won 17.5 to 12.5. Comprising 30 available points, players compete as pairs in alternate shot and four-ball matches, as well as head-to-head singles.
While it’s impossible to say which LIV players would have made this year’s Presidents Cup teams under different circumstances, many of those mentioned above would have at least been in the mix. DeChambeau won the U.S. Open, while Niemann and Smith finished second and seventh, respectively, in LIV’s individual standings.
In Canada, the U.S. will be led by the likes of Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, and Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, and Jason Day on the international side.
LIV aside, the PGA Tour is gearing up for a big week in Montreal.
With a six-day total capacity crowd of 162,000 expected (practice rounds Tuesday and Wednesday), this marks the largest international staging of the event with more than 550,000 square feet of hospitality, and a 2,000-seat first tee stadium. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the honorary chairman of this Presidents Cup, will be at the final round Sunday.
Topping the premium offerings is the Trophy Club, which includes space inside Royal Montreal’s clubhouse and a two-sided on-course venue with views of the 10th and 11th holes. A single ticket for the weekend costs just under $2,000.
He may be gutted not to be involved, but Bryson DeChambeau will still be glued to the TV for the Presidents Cup. The Ryder Cup-style tournament, which sees the US take on a non-European international side, begins in Montreal, Canada today (Thursday).
The biennial competition won’t feature any LIV Golf players, like DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, who remain banned for their decision to defect to the lucrative Saudi-backed tour in 2022. That, along with the recently-lifted Ryder Cup ban on LIV players, was one of the major downsides of DeChambeau’s decision to quit the PGA Tour, given his passion for team golf.
However, as a lover of the sport, it would be no surprise if the US Open champion is still following events from Montreal intently. Speaking ahead of the 2022 edition of the Presidents Cup, DeChambeau outlined his position on the sidelining of LIV rebels.
He said: “I personally think that the team events are only hurting themselves by not allowing us to play, not allowing us to qualify through some capacity, in some facet.”
However, he insisted at the time he would still be tuning in, adding: “I'm a golf fan, first and foremost. I'm going to watch golf wherever it's played with some of the best players in the world, whoever it is.
“I think down the road that'll change. I think that this will become something special, even more special than what it is now, and moving forward in the future, I'll still watch other tournaments that I've won and done well at before.”
Indeed, DeChambeau may get his wish to represent his country again at next year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage, New York after the PGA added LIV Golf to its list of “approved tours”. That gives LIV players membership of the organisation, a requirement to be eligible for the match versus Team Europe.
The PGA Tour said in a statement: “Going forward, all LIV Golf players are eligible for the PGA Championship and any American player who qualifies for the Ryder Cup on points or is added to the US team as a captain’s pick is eligible to compete.”
Discussions over reuniting men’s golf are still ongoing more than a year since the PGA and Europe’s DP World Tour announced a “framework agreement” for a merger with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the financial clout behind LIV.
