Akshay Bhatia was overlooked, while Sahith Theegala secured an automatic spot on the team through his strong points performance
2024 PGA Tour standout Akshay Bhatia’s exclusion from the 12 member U.S. Presidents Cup team has sparked controversy, especially as players like Californian Max Homa, who had a relatively lacklustre season, were selected instead. Bhatia, 22, a two-time PGA TOUR winner, finished 14th in the Presidents Cup rankings and was widely expected to be a Captain’s pick. However, Jim Furyk chose to go with Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley, Brian Harman, and Homa—despite Bhatia’s stronger performance compared to some of these selections. Bhatia finished 26th in the FedEx Cup standings, ahead of Homa (46th) and Harman (31st), both of whom missed qualifying for the season ending Tour Championship. Many believe Bhatia, with his rising talent and youth, would have been a valuable addition to the team.
Meanwhile, 26 year old Sahith Theegala, the other Indian-origin PGA Tour star, was an automatic selection for the Presidents Cup team having finished third in the 2024 FedEx Cup rankings and sixth in the Presidents Cup standings. The matches will start from September 26th in Montreal, Canada, which has a huge Indian origin community.
From India, Anirban Lahiri remains the only player to have played the Presidents Cup, having been selected by International Team captain Nick Price in 2015 and 2017 respectively. However, with the current Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points distribution heavily favouring PGA TOUR players it seems unlikely that any Indian player will make the International team anytime soon. Shubhankar Sharma, currently ranked 175th in the world and 49th on the European Tour, needs to break into the top-10 on the European Tour to earn a PGA TOUR card. Without this, the prospect of an Indian player participating in the 2026 or 2028 Presidents Cup appears slim.
In fact all the International Team picks – mainly from Canada and Korea are regulars on the PGA Tour, a noticeable effect of the recent re-allocation of World Ranking points favouring only PGA Tour players.
With OWGR points being the main basis for Olympic and major championship eligibility, besides selection for the President’s Cup International Team, the writing is on the wall – the only tour that truly matters anymore is the PGA Tour.
Photo – PGA TOUR
