09/01/26 06:05:00
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09/01 18:04 CDT Jackson Koivun added to American team for Presidents Cup 3
months after leaving college
Jackson Koivun added to American team for Presidents Cup 3 months after leaving
college
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) --- Jackson Koivun was added to the U.S. team for
the Presidents Cup on Tuesday just three months after leaving Auburn, one of
two newcomers to an American team that hasn't lost in 28 years.
Koivun, who won the 3M Open in his third start as a professional and qualified
for the PGA Tour postseason in just five tournaments, is the first player since
Jordan Spieth in 2013 to start a year without a tour card and play in the
Presidents Cup.
"I'm happy took a chance on me. I'm going to give it my all," Koivun said.
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker also took Presidents Cup newcomer Jacob Bridgeman,
who won at Riviera this year. Snedeker passed over Ryan Gerard, the No. 22
player in the world who contended at the Tour Championship and finished third.
Snedeker said he and his assistants took a hard look at everyone in the mix
before settling on Koivun, a 21-year-old who had such a sterling amateur career
that he could have joined the tour through the PGA Tour University ranking
system after his sophomore year.
"These decisions are always tough," Snedeker said. "It comes down to your gut
instincts on some of these things. You can look at stats all you want, past
performances all you want, but you have to have a feeling. For some reason, I
just had a gut feeling. We'll see how that turns out.
"But I have full confidence he's ready for the challenge."
The six Americans who qualified on points were Scottie Scheffler, Cameron
Young, U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa and Russell
Henley. Snedeker's other picks were not surprising --- Patrick Cantlay, Xander
Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Chris Gotterup, who has won three times this year.
International captain Geoff Ogilvy picked a pair of Canadians in Corey Conners
and Nick Taylor. He also took Ryo Hisatsune, who turns 23 next week. It will be
the first time since 1998 the International team has two Japanese players, with
Hideki Matsuyama already earning one of the six automatic spots.
The Presidents Cup is Sept. 24-27 at Medinah, which has been entirely renovated
by Ogilvy's Australia-based golf course design company.
Ogilvy didn't have the same depth from which to choose, and two of his options
are South Africans who are European tour members --- Casey Jarvis and Jayden
Schaper, both of whom did their best work early in the season.
He went with Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa, who has a 3-1-1 record in
his two previous appearances; Cognizant Classic winner Nico Echavarria of
Colombia; and Sungjae Im, a staple on the International team since his iron
play wowed the International team at Royal Melbourne in 2019.
They join automatic qualifiers Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim of South Korea, Min Woo
Lee of Australia and British Open champion Ryan Fox.
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