With four weeks remaining until the top 8 players on each team officially qualify for the 2019 Presidents Cup, Cameron Smith rejoined the top 8 in the International Team standings after a T20 finish at The Open Championship elevated the Aussie two spots from No. 10 to No. 8.
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.
It was a timely return to form for Smith, who recorded his first finish inside the top 25 on the PGA TOUR since February when he earned a T6 result at the WGC-Mexico Championship. Smith has been firmly in contention for his first Presidents Cup appearance since his successful title defense at the Australian PGA Championship in early December lifted the 25-year-old to No. 2 in the International Team standings.
“That was one of my goals this year. That was one of my top things [to qualify],” Smith said. “Obviously I had a good run there when I started taking the rankings and kind of fell out through the middle there, but my game is coming back around.”
In the field for this week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Smith is also planning to play in next week’s Wyndham Championship before competing in the FedExCup Playoffs. With his position on the bubble to grab one of the automatic qualifying spots, Smith is electing to give himself four more opportunities to secure his position prior to the Aug. 18 deadline.
Smith is one of four Aussies currently qualified among the top 8, joining Marc Leishman (No. 1), Adam Scott (No. 4) and Jason Day (No. 7).
With the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational being a limited-field event, only a handful of Internationals outside the top 8 will have the opportunity to make a move in the standings with a strong finish. Those just outside the top 8 in Memphis this week include: Justin Harding (No. 11), Shugo Imahira (No. 12), Sung Kang (No. 14) and Corey Conners (No. 19).
Jazz Janewattananond (No. 9) and Abraham Ancer (No. 10) are not in the field this week.
On the U.S. Team, U.S. Captain Woods missed the cut at The Open in his first start in four weeks but remains at No. 12 in the standings. With Woods planning to rest two more weeks prior to the FedExCup Playoffs, the first-time captain will have two more tournaments to play his way inside the top 8.
The top-8 players on the U.S. Team standings are in action this week as well as Tony Finau, who grabbed the No. 9 position following a third-place finish at The Open. Finau switched spots with Rickie Fowler (No. 10), who also enjoyed a successful week at Royal Portrush with a T6 finish but is taking this week off.
Brooks Koepka continues to secure his position at the U.S. Team standings leader following a T4 finish at The Open.
The top 15 players in the International and U.S. Presidents Cup Team Standings as of July 22, 2019 are listed below. Click here for the full Presidents Cup standings.
1. 1 Marc Leishman Australia 159.42
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.
A four-time winner of the Australian Golf Media Awards, including Best Photojournalism, Best Opinion, Best Column and Best Photographic Presentation, Inside Golf Group Editor Richard Fellner is the quintessential Golf Tragic, having played the game for over 50 years (but has never gotten any better!) He has played and reviewed courses all over the world, and has interviewed many of the great players of the game (including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Greg Norman). Richard is a member of both the Australian Golf Media Association and the Golf Society of Australia, and has been a featured guest on many Australian "sports talk" radio shows and networks, including ABC Grandstand, SEN 1116, Melbourne Talk Radio 1377, 2GB and others.
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