Prez Cup update: US skipper Tiger Woods cracks top 10

By Rahul Banerji

With his historic Masters title,US Presidents Cup captain Tiger Woods has climbed from no. 17 to no. 9 in the team standings as he looks to become the second-ever playing captain and the first since Hale Irwin in 1994 for the event later this year in Australia.

The Presidents Cup returns to Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the third time and will be played from December 9 to 15 when the Internationals led by Ernie Els, take on the Woods-led US team.

Indian hopes of representation at the prestigious event have taken a battering of late with Shubhankar Sharma best placed in the Internationals standings at T79 alongside Els. Further down the order are Chikkarangappa S. at 83, Gaganjeet Bhullar at 95, Rashid Khan at 107and Khalin Joshi at T120.

India’s only representative on the flagship PGA Tour, Anirban Lahiri is way down the order at 168^th.

Lahiri and Sharma are slated to appear together at next week’s Zurich Classic in New Orleans..

Solid record

Tiger, an eight-time Presidents Cup participant, has a 24-15-1 record, and the most match victories behind Phil Mickelson’s 26. At Royal Melbourne in 2011, Woods posted a 2-3 record and secured the winning point with a 4&3 win over Aaron Baddeley.

If Woods goes on to earn a spot on the 2019 team it would mark his first competitive performance in a Presidents Cup since 2013, where he also secured the winning point at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

Woods was one of six Americans finishing tied fifth or better at Augusta National. Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele shared second place while Webb Simpsonand Tony Finauwere tied fifth.

Johnson also reclaimed top spot in the standings from Justin Thomas(T12) and Koepka rose two spots to no. 4.

Also making moves

Also at the Masters, Rickie Fowler and first-time hopeful Patrick Cantlay both finished T9 and are no. 7 and 13, respectively, in the Presidents Cup standings. 

Marc Leishman  leads the Internationals standings and is one of four Australians inside the top 10. Jason Dayrose two places to no. 6 and improved his position as one of the top 8 automatic qualifiers.

Day’s T5 at Augusta came after he held a share of the 36-hole lead with four others, including fellow Aussie Adam Scott, who climbed to no. 10 with an eventual T18 finish. Cameron Smith remains inside the top 10 at no.4.

But the Presidents Cup hopeful who has moved up the most is Canada’s Corey Conners, who became the first since 2010 to win on the PGA Tour after Monday qualifying at the Valero Texas Open for his maiden Tour title.

It pushed him from no. 39 to tenth in the Internationals standings as he looks to join captain’s assistant Mike Weir, Graham DeLaet and Adam Hadwin as Canadians to compete in the Presidents Cup.

Els has the chance to see Conners compete up close this week when he is paired with him and Hadwin for the first two rounds of the ongoing RBC Heritage where Anirban Lahiri lies way down the field at 77^th after the first day.

The top 15 in the International and US standings as of April 15, 2019 are.

INTERNATIONALS

Rank    Player                          Country                       Points
1.         Marc Leishman             Australia                       136.30

2.         Louis Oosthuizen          South Africa                130.43

3.         Hideki Matsuyama        Japan                            111.09

4.         Cameron Smith            Australia                        105.58

5.         Haotong Li                   China                               104.96

6.         Jason Day                     Australia                        94.90

7.         Justin Harding              South Africa                  94.79

8.         Abraham Ancer             Mexico                          90.49

9.         Si Woo Kim                 Korea                               78.84

10.        Adam Scott                   Australia                       77.87

11.        Corey Conners             Canada                         75.22

12.        Sungjae Im                   Korea                             72.39

13.        Jazz Janewattananond    Thailand                   71.32

14.        Branden Grace              South Africa                68.38

15.        Shugo Imahira              Japan                             66.18

UNITED STATES

Rank    Player                                      Points

1.         Dustin Johnson                           5,611

2.         Justin Thomas                             5,359

3.         Xander Schauffele                      5,055

4.         Brooks Koepka                           4,629

5.         Bryson DeChambeau                 4,471

6.         Matt Kuchar                                4,339

7.         Rickie Fowler                              3,940

8.         Tony Finau                                  3,664

9.         Tiger Woods                                3,638

10.        Phil Mickelson                           3,515

11.        Gary Woodland                          3,511

12.        Webb Simpson                            3,223

13.        Patrick Cantlay                           3,206

14.        Charles Howell III                      3,106

15.        Bubba Watson                            3,013               

Both captains, Woods and Els, can make four elections of their choice at a to-be-determined later date.

Also read: Tiger Woods sets sights on playing role in 2019 Presidents Cup