Note from the editor: Opening Drive is a two-week start to the 2024 season for the PGA TOUR. It’s a way to celebrate the start of a new year. The players are fit and ready to perform at their best, but they’ll need to do so right away because the season is over so quickly. The previews on PGATOUR.COM will get you ready for the 2024 season by telling you about the players and stories you need to know before the first shot is made.

Sometimes golf fans can be pretty loud, but there’s still something about playing on the road that makes it harder for the home team than when they’re on their home turf.

That’s one thing that will help the International Team at the Presidents Cup in 2024 at Canada’s Royal Montreal Golf Club. The Internationals haven’t won the Presidents Cup in more than 25 years, but there are a few things that could go their way in the next match between the US and the best players from outside of the US and Europe every two years.

One is having the edge of playing at home, and the other is knowing how their opponent is doing. The U.S. has been doing really well in team events lately, but they just lost the Ryder Cup in Rome, which was very disappointing, and now they have to try to escape losing on the road again. It’s possible that Americans lost confidence last year.

It will also be led by Mike Weir, who is Canada’s favorite son and the first man from that country to win a major title. He can choose from a number of fellow countrymen to add to his team, which will give the home team an even bigger edge. Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, two veterans, are expected to be on the team again, and Jason Day wants to play in the Presidents Cup again after a seven-year break. Next are the young players on the rise, such as Tom Kim and Min Woo Lee. They are likely to make the team and would make the group more exciting.

The Official World Golf Ranking will be used by the International Team to choose its six automatic winners. All of the OWGR points earned during the 2024 BMW Championship will be used to choose those six players. Then, Weir will add six captain’s picks to his team. Here is the current scores, followed by my guesses for the 12 players who will be at Royal Montreal from September 24th to 29th. The names are in alphabetical order.

RankAverage points
1. Tom Kim4.03
2. Jason Day3.26
3. Sungjae Im2.77
4. Ryan Fox2.76
5. Min Woo Lee2.39
6. Corey Conners2.37
7. Emiliano Grillo2.31
8. Cam Davis2.09
9. Hideki Matsuyama2.06
10. Adam Scott2.06
11. Si Woo Kim2.03

Corey Conners

Conners is always one of the best ballstrikers on the TOUR, and he wants to play in his home country and make up for a rough Presidents Cup start. It was a bad day for Conners at Quail Hollow, and Xander Schauffele’s bad play cost the US the winning point because Conners couldn’t take advantage of Schauffele’s mistakes on the back nine. Every year for the past five years, Conners has been in the top 25 in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Approach-the-Green.

Number of Presidents Cup appearances: 1 (2022)
The Presidents Cup record is 0-4-0

Cameron Davis

The 6-foot-4 Australian is another good driver for the International Team. For the first time in his career, he ranked 17th in Strokes Gained. This was due to making his golf swing stronger and more stable. Better Off-the-Tee in 2023; that better off-the-tee play helped him end the season on a good note. He showed he was ready for the big stage by finishing in the top 10 at both the PGA Championship (T4) and THE PLAYERS Championship (T6). Then he won three straight tournaments in the top 10 to crack the top 50 in the FedExCup, which guaranteed him a spot in all of 2024’s Signature Events. In his last seven races of the 2023 season, he finished in the top 12 six times.

Number of Presidents Cup appearances: 1 (2022)
The Presidents Cup record is 2–3–0.

Jason Day

It’s hard to think that Day hasn’t played in the Presidents Cup since 2017, but he’s almost certain to be back on the International Team after Chris Como helped him get his career back on track. What’s the best thing about the swing changes? They’ve kept Day healthy, which has helped him have his best season in years. He won THE CJ CUP after not winning in five years. Byron Nelson went to the TOUR Championship even though he didn’t finish in the top 100 in the FedExCup the last two years. He finished second at The Open Championship in 2023, which was his best major finish since 2016. It was also the first time in four years that he was ranked in the top 20 in the world. The International Team is stronger with Jason Day on it, and having him there will help their chances in Montreal.

Presidents Cup appearances: 4 (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
The Presidents Cup record is 5-11-4.

Ryan Fox

There was a strong case for Fox to be on the 2022 team, but he was one of the first players to be cut. How did he answer? By beating everyone else at St. Andrews in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship the next week. After a great DP World Tour season in which he won the prestigious BMW PGA Championship, Fox will join the PGA TOUR for the first time in 2024. That was the biggest event on the DP World Tour, and the group was very strong. The European Ryder Cup team was all there. Fox is a big man. He is the son of a famous New Zealand rugby star.

Number of Presidents Cup appearances: 0
No record for the Presidents Cup.

Adam Hadwin

The International Team lost the 2022 Presidents Cup because they couldn’t put the ball in the hole well enough. Hadwin would help the Internationals on the greens, and fans from his home country would cheer for him. This year, Hadwin and his countryman Nick Taylor came in second place at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. They finished behind teams like Wyndham Clark/Beau Hossler and the great U.S. pair of Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay, who won the event in 2022. Hawwin finished 21st in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2023. This is the second time in three years that he has finished in the top 25 of that stat.

Presidents Cup appearances: 2 (2017, ’19)
The Presidents Cup record is 1–3–2.

Sungjae Im

His image as a birdie machine and his steady hitting of the ball, especially off the tee, are both very helpful in team play. That’s why Im has a good record (5-3-2), even though he’s lost both of his Presidents Cup games. He also has a record of 3-0-1 in Four-balls.

Presidents Cup appearances: 2 (2019, ’22)
The Presidents Cup record is 5–3–2.

Tom Kim

The Wyndham Championship and the Shriners Children’s Open wins in 2022 pushed Kim to the top of the world rankings. He became the first player since Tiger Woods to win twice on TOUR before turning 21. Between those wins was Kim’s first Presidents Cup, and he was the International Team’s sparkplug. After a few rough months in the middle of 2023, Kim hired Chris Como as a new teacher. Soon after, they started seeing results. Kim came in second at The Open and won his second Shriners title. He finished in the top 25 nine times in a row by the end of 2023. It looks like his energy and iron play will help the Internationals for years to come.

Number of Presidents Cup appearances: 1 (2022)
The Presidents Cup record is 2–3–0.

Min Woo Lee

Min Woo Lee Lee, who is 25 years old, is about to become one of the biggest stars of 2024. The rising star is the former U.S. Junior Champion who won twice on the DP World Tour before he turned 23. One of those wins was at the Genesis Scottish Open, where he beat a strong field. He finished in the top 10 of a major for the first time in 2023 (T5, U.S. Open), and he played in the final group at THE PLAYERS and ended up T6. At the end of the year, he finished in the top 15 in seven of his last eight races, including two wins. His career-high world ranking of 33rd is the highest it has ever been. He’s known for his stingers, but he brings a lot more to the International team than that.

Number of Presidents Cup appearances: 0
No record for the Presidents Cup.

Min Woo Lee

There are only three players on the International Team who have played in more than two Presidents Cups. They are Matsuyama, Day, and Scott. The International Team will need Matsuyama to get healthy again after he had to drop out of several games because of injuries to his neck and back. He had a nine-year streak of making it to the TOUR Championship, but his 50th-place finish in the FedExCup was the worst of his career. His iron play still put him in the top ten on the TOUR, but he had only two top-10s in 2023 and none since March.

Five times in the Presidents Cup (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022).
The Presidents Cup record is 7-10-5.

Adam Scott

Scott was a rookie on the 2003 International Team that tied the U.S. in South Africa. Since then, he has lost twenty times. Still, the person who won the Masters and PLAYERS is in charge of the International Team. The people who play with him really want him to win the Presidents Cup.

Presidents Cup appearances: 10 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022)
The Presidents Cup record is 18-25-6.

Nicky Taylor

People in the home country of the Presidents Cup look up to him after the exciting way he won the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. He made an eagle putt from 70 feet out to become the first Canadian in 70 years to win their national open. Just that is enough to make him part of the team. He had the best year of his professional career last year, making it to his first TOUR Championship at age 35. He used to be the best amateur golfer in the world. He also came in second twice, including at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which was the only team event on the PGA TOUR. He won that event with Hadwin. In 2023, he played well all the way through the bag and was in the top quarter of the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Get to the green (36th), go around it (48th), and putt (52nd).

Number of Presidents Cup appearances: 0
No record for the Presidents Cup.

Erik van Rooyen

The recent World Wide Technology title that Van Rooyen won may have been the most emotional on TOUR this year. He played for work when he went to Mexico for one of the last events of the year. On the last nine holes, he shot 8-under-28 to win his second PGA TOUR title. It was hard for Van Rooyen to play, and he broke down in tears on the 18th green. One of my best friends and a teammate from college, Jon Trasamar, was in the last few days of his cancer fight and would later die. The win for van Rooyen was the result of his hard work with famous coach Sean Foley, which turned around his season. During a stretch of 11 starts, he missed nine cuts. But he turned things around and didn’t finish worse than 30th in any of the four FEC Fall starts.

Number of Presidents Cup appearances: 0
No record for the Presidents Cup.

Five names to think about

  • Byeong Hun An
  • Ryo Hisatsune
  • Mackenzie Hughes
  • Emiliano Grillo
  • Keita Nakajima