Mike Weir talks to Golf Channel after making his captain’s picks for the Presidents Cup.
The Golf Channel
Seven months ago it looked like Nick Taylor would be a lock to make the Presidents Cup team. He had just won the WM Phoenix Open and jumped to 28th in the Official World Golf Ranking. And that victory came after an emotional win at the RBC Canadian Open in June 2023, making him the first Canadian to win the country’s national men’s tournament in seven decades.
The latter was such a massive achievement that Golf Canada even incorporated Taylor’s celebratory silhouette into its logo for the 2024 tour.
That’s why it was so shocking to see Taylor left this month’s President’s Cup teamwhich will play a home match against the Americans at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Quebec on September 26-29.
Captain Mike Weir announced his six captaincy picks to round out the 12-man International squad on Tuesday, and Taylor and fellow Canadian Adam Hadwin were conspicuously omitted. Weir became the first Canadian to win a men’s event when he won the 2003 Masters, and leaving several of his countrymen off the Presidents Cup roster was not an easy decision for him.
“I can’t tell you how difficult those calls were. Those guys, I respect those guys, I love those guys and they’re like brothers. You know, they’re Canadian, and the hardest part of being the captain was those calls,” Weir said Tuesday on the Golf Channel, fighting back tears. “I have a lot of respect for them and I have even more respect for them now the way they handled it.”
On the US side, Captain Jim Furyk immediately went down the listpicking numbers 7-12 in the points standings to add to his list of six auto-qualifiers, but Weir had some surprises in the back pocket. There were no Canadians among the six auto-qualifiers for the internationals, but three — Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith — were named to the team Tuesday, making it the first time three Canadians have ever been on the team. Si Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were Weir’s other captain’s picks. Kim and Hughes were 14th and 15th respectively in the rankings, and they passed Australian Cam Davis (eighth) and Taylor (12th). Hadwin was 13th.
Despite Taylor’s win in Phoenix in February, he has recorded just one top-20 finish in regular stroke events. He also missed the cut in all four majors (though he qualified for the Olympics, tying for 30th).
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“He looked really good to make the team, and as it happens in golf, sometimes you go through a little spell that’s not your best,” Weir said. “It was a super difficult decision for me, but a decision that was well thought out, and through a number of different analytical things, gut feelings and all kinds of things, it came to that conclusion, but it was very difficult.”
Hadwin had a similar story. He had five top 10s last season — including a third at the Memorial — but failed to finish in the top 20 in his last eight starts. Hadwin was on the Presidents Cup team in 2017 and 2019, but now he will miss his second straight.
“Again, both of those calls for those guys were extremely tough, and like I said earlier when I was talking to some of the Golf Channel guys, the way they handled it just spoke volumes for their character, which I knew already, but it even made me respect them even more,” Weir said. “I just told them they’re going to be in these next Cups, and stay engaged with this team of Cup Presidents because Adam has been on some teams, he knows how special they are and wants to be on them. And so does Nick.”
