Australian Jason Day is a heavy favourite to be picked on the Internationals side for the Presidents Cup to be played in Melbourne, Australia in December.
The host nation has Adam Scott, Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith on the team when qualification of the top eight was concluded after the Tour Championship.
The trio join South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama as well as China’s Li Haotong, Taiwan’s CT Pan, Mexico’s Abraham Ancer on the team, looking to bring some fightback to what has turned into a one-sided competition in recent years.
Captain Ernie Els has four picks to be made and has Australian Day front and centre of his mind.
‘There’s a bit of time to go, but Jason is obviously one of my favourite guys,’ said Els.
Day has not enjoyed a particularly successful season with his ranking dropping nine places from his January starting point at 14. The former world No 1 enjoyed a good start to his season with a few top-five finishes, including at the Masters, but has only one top 10 since then (T8 at the Travelers).
That said, the 31-year-old has experience with four previous Presidents Cup appearances to his name.
‘I’m not very worried about Jason. I would love to have seen him qualify in the top eight. He didn’t have a terrible year. He just didn’t have a year like we’re used to from Jason. ‘
Els also mentioned South Africans Erik van Rooyen, winner of the Scandinavian Invitation, and Branden Grace as others on his radar for captain’s picks.
Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas and Canada’s Adam Hadwin have also been highly regarded over the past few seasons on tour.
