With six weeks remaining until the top eight players on each team officially qualify for the 2019 Presidents Cup, Justin Harding remains in touch of the Internationals side.
The Presidents Cup returns to Melbourne, Australia and The Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the third time, 9-15 December, when the Internationals, led by captain Ernie Els, will take on the USA led by captain Tiger Woods.
The South African charge has fizzled out with Charl Schwartzel out injured and Branden Grace outside of the top 15. That leaves Louis Oosthuizen as the only automatic qualifier. It is unlikely, though, that he will not be joined by Harding either by the Stellenbosch star finishing inside the top eight or via a captain’s pick.
Hideki Matsuyama overtook Adam Scott with a T7 finish at the 3M Open and moved up to No 3 in the standings while Scott fell to No 4. Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Australia’s Cameron Smith also swapped positions, with Ancer taking over the No 9 position after a T19 finish at the Irish Open while Smith took the week off and fell back to No 10.
The top five in the US Team standings remained steady, with Brooks Koepka still atop the list after finishing 65th at the 3M Open. Koepka is followed by Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Matt Kuchar, who all had the week off.
US Team Captain Woods will have one more week of rest before returning to action at next week’s The Open Championship. Woods remains No 12 in the standings and is looking to become the Presidents Cup’s second-ever playing captain.
The top 15 players in the International and US Presidents Cup Team Standings as of 8 July, 2019 are listed below:
INTERNATIONAL
Rank Last Week Player Country Points
1. 1 Marc Leishman Australia 159.42
1. 1 Marc Leishman Australia 159.42
2. 2 Louis Oosthuizen South Africa 153.43
3. 3 Hideki Matsuyama Japan 153.00
4. 4 Adam Scott Australia 149.17
5. 5 Haotong Li China 124.07
6. 6 C.T Pan Chinese Taipei 117.03
7. 7 Jason Day Australia 116.61
8. 10 Jazz Janewattananond Thailand 111.54
9. 9 Abraham Ancer Mexico 111.45
10. 8 Cameron Smith Australia 110.58
11. 11 Justin Harding South Africa 102.04
12. 13 Shugo Imahira Japan 97.39
13. 12 Sung Kang Korea 94.05
14. 14 Sungjae Im Korea 93.39
15. 15 Adam Hadwin Canada 83.83
UNITED STATES
Rank Last Week Player Points
1. 1 Brooks Koepka 6,809
2. 2 Dustin Johnson 6,445
3. 3 Xander Schauffele 5,574
4. 4 Justin Thomas 5,472
5. 5 Matt Kuchar 5,454
6. 6 Bryson DeChambeau 5,225
7. 7 Patrick Cantlay 5,002
8. 8 Gary Woodland 4,884
9. 9 Rickie Fowler 4,351
10. 10 Tony Finau 4,344
11. 11 Webb Simpson 4,058
12. 12 Tiger Woods 3,868
13. 13 Chez Reavie 3,689
14. 14 Phil Mickelson 3,535
15. 15 Kevin Kisner 3,269
Click here for the full Presidents Cup standings
