Two players made significant moves toward qualifying for their first Presidents Cup over the past two weeks, with Chinese Taipei’sC.T. Pan coming from behind to win the RBC Heritage for his first career PGA TOUR victory while the United States’ Ryan Palmer teamed with Jon Rahm to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for his fourth career PGA TOUR title and first since 2010. The wins moved Pan and Palmer to Nos. 8 and 19, respectively, in the International and U.S. Team standings.
The Presidents Cup will return to Melbourne, Australia and The Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the third time, December 9-15, 2019, when the International Team, led by Captain Ernie Els, will take on the U.S. Team led by Captain Tiger Woods.
Pan is looking to become the first player from Chinese Taipei to qualify for the Presidents Cup, which would be a momentous occasion for a country in which golf has room to grow. Pan is doing his part to help develop the next generation of golfers in Chinese Taipei through the C.T. Pan Junior Championship that is operated by the American Junior Golf Association.
Pan was set to host 10 junior golfers from Chinese Taipei to compete against several of the United States’ top-ranked juniors in the inaugural event in Houston but was urged by his wife, Michelle, to compete in the RBC Heritage and leave the hosting to her.
“It would be my biggest honor to play under Captain Els. I definitely want to do my part to win the Presidents Cup,” Pan said. “And back home in Taiwan, I mean, we don’t have a Ryder Cup in Asia. And I just feel it’s kind of unfortunate for the golf fans back home in Asia. And I think the Presidents Cup will be something like that. And it will inspire more kids to play golf or inspire more people to follow golf.”
After jumping from No. 31 to No. 8 in the standings, Pan will look to maintain his current position through the FedExCup Playoffs in August, when the top 8 automatic qualifiers will become official following the BMW Championship.
The top 15 in the International Team standings remained stagnant following the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, with Australia’s Marc Leishman retaining the top spot in the standings for the 20th consecutive week dating back to the Hero World Challenge (2 Dec).
Jason Day (No. 6) and Adam Scott (No. 11) gave Australian fans a potential prelude to a Presidents Cup pairing at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where the Aussies opened with a solid 65 in Four-ball before shooting 72 in Foursomes to miss the cut by one stroke.
On the U.S. side, Palmer’s win moved him from No. 40 to No. 19 in the standings in his quest to earn a Presidents Cup debut. Having competed full-time on the PGA TOUR since 2004, the 42-year-old’s return to the winner’s circle was a long time coming after recording six total runner-up finishes since his last victory at the 2010 Sony Open in Hawaii. Palmer’s game had also been trending in the right direction since the beginning of the 2018-19 PGA TOUR Season with three top-10 finishes in his first eight starts.
“I always felt I could win again. Just so many things have to go right that week to win, and you’ve got to have luck on your side throughout the week, obviously, and a great game,” Palmer said. “I’ve had a lot of chances since then, a lot of second-place finishes, a lot of third- or fourth-place finishes, and just never could get over that hump. One round kind of kept me out of it each time. But I just kept believing in what I was doing. I knew my game was good enough.”
Dustin Johnson remains at No. 1 for the U.S. Team following a week where the standings remained relatively consistent. 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play champion Kevin Kisner continued his stellar play of late with a T5 finish with partner Scott Brown and moved up two spots to No. 14.
Matt Kuchar took the week off after recording his second runner-up finish and sixth top-10 result in 13 starts this season at the RBC Heritage. Kuchar, currently No. 4 in the standings, is one of two players in the U.S. standings with two wins on the PGA TOUR this season, joining Xander Schauffele, who sits at No. 3.
Captain Woods remains at No. 9 in the standings and is scheduled to compete in his first PGA TOUR event since his Masters triumph at the PGA Championship, May 16-19.
The top 15 players in the International and U.S. Presidents Cup Team Standings as of April 29, 2019 are listed below. Click here for the full Presidents Cup standings.
INTERNATIONAL
Rank Player Country Points
1. Marc Leishman Australia 136.30
- Louis Oosthuizen South Africa 130.43
- Hideki Matsuyama Japan 111.09
- Cameron Smith Australia 105.58
- Haotong Li China 104.96
- Jason Day Australia 94.90
- Justin Harding South Africa 94.79
- C.T. Pan Chinese Taipei 94.58
- Abraham Ancer Mexico 90.49
- Si Woo Kim Korea 78.84
- Adam Scott Australia 77.87
- Corey Conners Canada 75.22
- Sungjae Im Korea 72.39
- Jazz Janewattananond Thailand 71.32
- Branden Grace South Africa 68.38
UNITED STATES
Rank Player Points
- Dustin Johnson 5,667
- Justin Thomas 5,359
- Xander Schauffele 5,064
- Matt Kuchar 4,939
- Brooks Koepka 4,646
- Bryson DeChambeau 4,471
- Rickie Fowler 3,940
- Tony Finau 3,664
- Tiger Woods 3,638
- Phil Mickelson 3,515
- Gary Woodland 3,511
- Patrick Cantlay 3,496
- Webb Simpson 3,313
- Kevin Kisner 3,106
- Charles Howell III 3,106
International Team eligibility criteria
The top eight (8) international players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup team) from the Presidents Cup International Team Points List which shall be Official World Golf Ranking points accumulated in the time period from August 27, 2018 (Dell Technologies Championship) through August 18, 2019 (BMW Championship).
Four Captain’s selections will be made at a to-be-determined later date.
U.S. Team eligibility criteria
The top eight (8) U.S. PGA TOUR members who have earned the most FedExCup points from September 11, 2017 (2017 BMW Championship) through 2019 BMW Championship, weighted as follows:
(a) 2017 BMW Championship through 2018 TOUR Championship: 1 FedExCup point = 1 point
(b) First event of the 2018-2019 season through 2019 BMW Championship: 1 FedExCup point = 2 points
Four Captain’s selections will be made at a to-be-determined later date.
