For the first time in Presidents Cup history, there will be three Canadians on the International Team – and this time, it’s a home game.
Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, and Mackenzie Hughes were all selected by fellow Canadian – and the International squad’s captain, Mike Weir – as part of his captain’s picks announced this week. Si Woo Kim of South Korea, Min Woo Lee of Australia, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa rounded out the six picks.
Conners and Pendrith will be playing in the Presidents Cup for the second time, after representing the Internationals in 2022. Hughes will be a rookie on the team but gave Weir plenty of reasons to want to choose him for 2024.
“Canadian golf fans have followed Mackenzie’s career for nearly two decades and it’s incredible to know he’s going to make his Presidents Cup debut in his home country. He is steady and calm under pressure and is without doubt one of the best putters on the PGA Tour, which is a great combination for our team,” Weir said.
Weir is certainly a data-driven captain, and he saw Hughes’ short-game prowess as a big asset to his team. Hughes finished fourth this season on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: putting, and in strokes gained: around the green.
Pendrith, meanwhile, comes into the Presidents Cup after his best-ever season on the PGA Tour. He broke through for his maiden victory at The CJ Cup earlier this summer and was the only Canadian to make it to the season-ending Tour Championship.
“I feel like my game is in a good place. And I think Mike noticed that and wants me to be a part of the team,” Pendrith said. “And super pumped and honored to (play) under Mike, and it's going to be a very, very fun week, and I think the crowds in the atmosphere is going to be great.
“You know this one for sure, at the beginning of the year, was on my radar. It was a team I wanted to make. Wanted to be back on the President's Cup team, playing with those guys in that format, and extra motivation to do it in Canada and have Mike being the captain.”
While Conners missed out on the season finale – after making it to East Lake four out of the last five years – he ended up seventh in the Presidents Cup standings for the International Team, just one spot out of an automatic selection. Conners, who already represented Canada at the Olympics in Paris, was one of the most consistent golfers on the PGA Tour this season. He didn’t miss a cut through the 2024 campaign and was third in strokes gained: approach the green, and ninth in strokes gained: tee to green.
“Corey is one of the best ball-strikers on the PGA Tour and his ability to consistently put himself and his playing partner in a position to attack is invaluable in team competition,” Weir said. “He has looked towards the 2024 Presidents Cup for two years now, and I know he’s eager to compete in front of his fellow Canadians.”
With the trio of Canadians joining the team, perhaps the most significant Canadian name to be left off the International squad is Nick Taylor. Taylor, who won the RBC Canadian Open last summer in dramatic, electrifying fashion, followed that win with another triumph at the WM Phoenix Open earlier this year. He, however, didn’t make a cut at any of the major championships in 2024 and only recorded one top-20 finish as an individual (he and Adam Hadwin, who was also left off the team, finished T10 together at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans) from his victory in February until the end of the season at the beginning of September.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard for Weir to make the call to Hadwin and Taylor to let them both know they were going in a different direction.
"Both those calls to those guys were extremely difficult," said Weir. "The way they handled it just showed me a lot about their character, which I already knew, but even made me respect them even more.
"I just told them that they're going to be on these Cups going forward and stay engaged with this Presidents Cup team."
Jim Furyk, the captain of the U.S. team, also named his picks this week.
Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Russell Henley and Max Homa were all added to the squad. Bradley – who is set to be the captain of the American Ryder Cup team next year – was initially an assistant captain to Furyk but will be relieved of those duties so he can play on the team.
The U.S. beat the Internationals 17.5 to 12.5 in North Carolina in 2022, the ninth consecutive victory for the Americans at the event.
This year’s Presidents Cup – on Canadian soil and featuring a record number of Canadians – starts Sept. 25 at Royal Montreal.