[Photo: PGA Tour of Australasia]
Newly unveiled Presidents Cup International captain Geoff Ogilvy says it would be “cool” if he were able to select LIV golfers when his men take on the US side in 2026 at Chicago’s famed Medinah.
Overnight in the US, the PGA Tour announced Australian Ogilvy as International team skipper and Brandt Snedeker as American captain for the 2026 Cup at Medinah’s No.3 course outside Chicago.
Calling LIV golf “that side of the ledger,” in pro golf’s divide, Australia’s most recent men’s US Open champion Ogilvy acknowledged the firepower of International team players who joined LIV. They were immediately banned from all PGA Tour events including the Presidents Cup, which the circuit owns.
That list includes LIV’s standout player this season, Joaquin Niemann, as well as recent winner Marc Leishman, 2022 British Open champion Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert, Sebastian Munoz and Carlos Ortiz among others.
Quite simply, without those players the International side does not have the talent across the board to defeat an American team lined with heavy hitters such as world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and more. The International team recently was thumped in front of home International fans in Montreal, Canada, together for a 10th straight defeat at the biennial event. The International team has not even tied a Presidents Cup since 2003 (and hasn’t won since 1998).
Asked if he could “see the tour relenting” on its ban, given that the golf world is slowly attempting to come together via the framework agreement and majors inviting LIV players, Ogilvy said he’d like to see those LIV players on the team.
“If you asked me that two years ago, I would have said no, but it feels like — and this is just a feeling, and you guys probably all have similar feelings — that it’s a little bit closer maybe now than it was two years ago,” Ogilvy said. “I have absolutely no idea if that will move even closer between now and Medinah.
“At some point in the golf world, it’s going to get aligned, and if that happens in the next 16 months, that will be cool because there’s some good players from the international side of things on that side of the ledger, if you like. Yeah, I’ll be picking from the pool of players that’s put in front of me and lead it to smarter people than me to work out things like that.”
Ogilvy’s design firm, Ogilvy Cocking Mead, has been renovating the famed No.3 course where Tiger Woods won the 1999 and 2006 PGA Championship.
“Look, I think it’s an advantage when we turn up on Monday, but by Thursday, if touring professionals are anything — the best skill, I think, that touring professionals have over most other golfers is they can learn a golf course really quickly.”
