Montreal, Canada: Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Koreans Tom Kim, Im Sung-jae and An Byeong-hun are among the top-six automatic qualifiers for the International Team which will face the US in next month’s Presidents Cup.
Following the conclusion of the PGA Tour's BMW Championship, Australians Adam Scott and Jason Day were confirmed as the other two automatic qualifiers for the International Team.
The US Team’s top-six qualifiers were also finalised, with world number one Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala earning their places for the showdown at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada (September 27-29).
International Team Captain Mike Weir and US Team Captain Jim Furyk will announce their six captains’ picks live on Golf Channel on September 3 to round out their 12-man teams.
Among the Asian quartet, Matsuyama, Kim and Im were part of the International Team which lost 12½-17½ to the US Team in Quail Hollow two years ago. An will return to the team following his lone appearance at Royal Melbourne in 2019.
Matsuyama, who won the Genesis Invitational and FedEx St Jude Championship this season, finished as the top-ranked International qualifier. He will be making his sixth straight appearance in the Presidents Cup, tying for fourth most in International Team history alongside Retief Goosen and Robert Allenby.
The 32-year-old is a two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner who created history in 2021 when he became the first Asian to win the Masters Tournament at Augusta National. He also won the bronze medal at this month’s Paris Olympics.
Im, a two-time PGA Tour winner, will make his third straight appearance. He’s undefeated in Sunday Singles having beaten Gary Woodland and Cameron Young in 2019 and 2022 respectively.
“The Presidents Cup is a tournament that every player in the international category wants to play in. It’s a team competition, so we're going to go in with the mentality of playing as the International Team, and we’re going to do our best together and try to beat the US Team,” said 26-year-old Im, a member of Korea’s gold medal-winning team at last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games.
Following a memorable debut at Quail Hollow, Tom Kim is pumped to earn his second straight appearance for the International Team and is aiming to improve on his 2-3-0 record.
The 22-year-old, who holds three PGA Tour wins, delivered one of the moments of the week in 2022 while partnering with Kim Si-woo in Saturday afternoon’s four-ball matches. On the 18th hole, tied with Schauffele and Cantlay, he hit a magnificent two-iron approach and then converted a 10-foot birdie putt to win the match, one-up, before breaking into a wild celebration with his team.
Kim said: “I’m really excited. It’s (Presidents Cup) very unique. It's the one week where we get to play on a team environment. After the last one, I wanted to be on the team again. There’s so much joy and it’s just one week. I’m very passionate, so I think energy is a big thing, especially as a young guy.
“My first Presidents Cup was so passionate and I wanted to do so much for our team. I think going to our home ground, the crowds are going to be great. They’re going to be very feisty. I can’t wait to get those Canadian crowds going.”
After a successful season which will see An competing in the Tour Championship for the first time, the 32-year-old is looking to play a role in helping the International Team secure a second victory in the biennial team competition.
An has recorded five top-10s this season, including a play-off loss at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He played in all five matches at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia, partnering twice with Scott in the four-ball competition
“It’s not easy to get on the team, but I’m glad to be back. And now hopefully, I will never miss it again. I’m hoping to play some nice golf and deliver a lot of points. It was one of my priority goals for this year to make it to the Presidents Cup,” he said.
