The 2022 Presidents Cup is quickly approaching as both the United States and International teams will round out their respective squads with the announcement of captains’ selections next week before competing at Quail Hollow Club Sept. 22-25. While Davis Love III and the US side has been thrown a single off-speed pitch — Will Zalatoris’ back injury not allowing him to play — International captain Trevor Immelman has faced nothing except a heavy dose of curveballs.
With LIV Golf’s recent acquisition of Australians Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman as well as Chilean Joaquin Niemann, the International team has lost two automatic qualifiers and a possible veteran presence if Leishman were to be selected. No long eligible in addition to a stable of South Africans, Immelman has had to be quick on his feet and think through every scenario imaginable.
“I would be a bad captain if I wouldn’t have been ready for all sorts of obstacles and adversity,” Immelman told the First Cut Podcast.
“I have been working the phones like crazy over the last six or eight months. Players, agents, caddies, all sorts, journalists just trying to figure out exactly what is going on, get a bead on where everybody is at, trying to learn as much as I can about the process so that I can in turn put our squad and eventually our team in the best position possible to try to and have some kind of chance against a team that is coming to Charlotte with a ton of confidence.”
International team automatic qualifiers
|
Hideki Matsuyama |
Japan |
|
Sungjae Im |
South Korea |
|
Tom Kim |
South Korea |
|
Corey Conners |
Canada |
|
Mito Pereira |
Chile |
|
Adam Scott |
Australia |
There has been plenty of discussion recently around the grind that is the PGA Tour. Whether it is scheduling, traveling, not seeing families and friends, but the grind of captaining a Presidents Cup has hardly been a topic of conversation. Immelman has been thrust into an impossible situation, facing a new challenge at every turn and can now let out a deep breath knowing he and his team can finally move forward and focus on the tall task of upending the US team.
“Relief for sure, because in a certain way I am glad it’s over,” Immelman said of the LIV Golf’s recent additions. “I knew that the players that left — the players in question — were considering that, they were open and honest with me about that process and were keeping me updated on that process.”
“And now that it is over I can go ahead and rebuild with 12 players that are young and hungry and that want to be there, want to be on our team. At the end of the day, those are the 12 that I want to be there with. I want to be there with the guys that did what they needed to do to make sure that they would be in Charlotte.”
Originally given four captain’s selections, Immelman all but confirmed that number has grown to six with the omission of Smith and Niemann from the automatic qualifiers pool. With a young crop to choose from, there is no doubt the South African’s hand-picked choices will play a crucial role in how this Presidents Cup plays out.
Trevor Immelman will lead a young International Team at the 2022 Presidents Cup. He joins Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter on the latest episode of The First Cut. Follow & listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.