Davis Love III didn’t pull any surprises Wednesday when revealing his captain’s picks to finalize his 12-man U.S. Presidents Cup team. Love went down the line of the points standings with the selections of Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Billy Horschel and Cameron Young, who finished eight through 12 on the list. He then completed the roster with veteran Kevin Kisner, who was No. 15, while skipping over Tom Hoge and J.T. Poston, two players with PGA Tour wins this season but little experience in match play.
The six were added to the half-dozen automatic qualifiers who led the season-long points list: Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau. Burns is another true rookie, while Scheffler is making his Presidents Cup debut after playing in last year’s Ryder Cup.
Seven of Love’s players—Spieth, Thomas, Cantlay, Scheffler, Finau and Schauffele—were members of the 2021 Ryder Cup team that registered a record 19-9 victory over Europe at Whistling Straits in Haven, Wis., the largest winning margin since 1967.
Will Zalatoris was seventh on the U.S. qualifying list but was forced to withdraw from the Tour Championship and removed himself from consideration for a captain’s pick because of a back injury he suffered at the BMW Championship three weeks ago.
Love’s six picks are ranked from No. 8 in the world (Morikawa) to No. 38 (Kisner, who played on the winning 2017 Presidents Cup team and has a victory in the WGC-Dell Match Play among his four PGA Tour titles). Spieth is the only other pick with Presidents Cup experience, making his fourth team.