🏌Who Will Make It To The Presidents Cup?

Good Morning! The field is set for this week’s BMW Championship - click here to find out the groups and tee times.

The tournament tees off on August 22 - follow our YouTube channel for the latest news and updates from the event.

Today’s Trivia: Who's the defending champion of the AIG Women's Open - the season's last major? Answer at the end of the email.

⛳ This day in history: The third PGA Championship ended on this date in 1920. Jock Hutchison defeated Douglas Edgar 1-up at Flossmoor Country Club in Chicago in the 36-hole final.

ALBATROSS
Presidents Cup: Who Will Represent Team US?

Qualifying for the 2024 Presidents Cup ends this weekend with the BMW Championship — second leg of the PGA Tour’s postseason, the FedEx Cup Playoffs. After the ensuing Tour Championship, rosters will be finalized.

The Presidents Cup goes down Sept. 26-29, at Royal Montreal Golf Club. The United States will be captained by Jim Furyk (2025 Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley is an assistant), while the International team — composed of non-Europeans — will be helmed by Canada’s Mike Weir.

⛳️ FedEx Cup Playoffs To Determine Presidents Cup Squad: The top 50 in the FedEx Cup points race after last weekend’s FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis (won by Hideki Matsuyama) will tee it up on Thursday at Castle Springs Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado.

The Presidents Cup points race concludes with the 72nd hole at the BMW. At that point, the six automatic qualifiers for both teams will be locked.

Here’s a look at the current Presidents Cup standings for Team US:

Scottie Scheffler (13,671 points)
Xander Schauffele (9,280)
Collin Morikawa (6,001)
Wyndham Clark (5,575)
Patrick Cantlay (4,691)
Sahith Theegala (4,544)
Tony Finau (4,039)
Russell Henley (3,902)
Max Homa (3,817)
Brian Harman (3,774)

Following the Tour Championship (Aug 29-Sep 1), Furyk and Weir will each make six captain’s picks to round out the squads. Youngsters amidst impressive seasons could be in the mix, namely Akshay Bhatia (No 12) — who “definitely” has Presidents Cup as a goal, Aaron Rai, and Nick Dunlap.

Two-time major champion Justin Thomas (No 15) will need to make a FedEx Cup statement to warrant consideration. His buddy, Jordan Spieth, appears headed for surgery.

📌 International Team's New Appointment: International team captain Mike Weir named Japan's Shigeki Maruyama as his fifth and final assistant for this year's Presidents Cup showdown against the United States in Montreal.

Maruyama, who competed in the Presidents Cup in 1998 and 2000, joins fellow captain's assistants Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman, Geoff Ogilvy and Camilo Villegas.

The United States is 12-1-1 in the Ryder Cup-style Presidents Cup competition, with its only loss coming at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia in 1998.

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TWEET
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
TV Ratings: PGA Tour and LIV Golf Have A Similar Problem

LIV Golf’s latest event at the Greenbrier failed to impress, drawing a minimal 136,000 viewers on Saturday and 165,000 on Sunday on the CW.

Pickleball outdrew LIV Golf, leaving big-name stars like Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm wondering what went wrong. The two golfers engaged in a thrilling play-off on the final day which Koepka ultimately won but it was not enough to impress the audience.

PGA Tour’s FedEx St. Jude Championship became the victim too. Despite Hideki Matsuyama’s electrifying win at the first playoff, TV ratings saw a staggering decline in viewership.

The event saw a whopping 1 million decline in fans who turned on their TV, compared to last year’s. Moreover, its final round on NBC drew a disappointing 2.2 million viewers, a significant drop from the 3.2 million who watched Lucas Glover’s win in 2023 on CBS.

Since the golf divide, this has been a regular concern, as loyalties toward players have changed the viewer’s base too.

LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

Solheim Cup: The AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews is the final major event of the LPGA season. It’s also the final opportunity for players to qualify for the Solheim Cup.

LIV Golf: American DJ Kaskade will perform live at the upcoming LIV Golf Chicago event. The Saudi Circuit has planned a special live performance featuring Kaskade soon after the first round of the event, which marks the season-ending individual competition.

Farewell: Lexi Thompson - one of the most iconic names of all time in women's golf - is set for what could be her final appearance at a Major championship this week when the AIG Women's Open takes place at St Andrews' Old Course.

Breaking Barriers: Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson is one of 332 players signed up for LPGA Qualifying School later this week. Earlier this year, Davidson came within one spot of qualifying for the 79th US Women’s Open, the biggest championship in women’s golf.

BIRDIE
Rahm and Niemann Faceoff For $18 Million

Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm will head to Chicago where one of them will be crowned as LIV Golf's 2024 individual champion. The pair will go head-to-head at Bolingbrook Golf Club for the $18 million first prize, where they'll follow in the footsteps of past champions Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch.

Rahm has not finished outside of the top-10 in an event he's completed all season, and has overtaken Niemann at the top after winning his first LIV Golf title in the UK earlier this month and then finishing 2nd to Brooks Koepka at The Greenbrier, where he lost in a playoff.

The pair are separated by less than 3 points at the top of the standings, where 40 points get awarded for a tournament win.

Below Rahm and Niemann are five players who will fight it out for 3rd-place, with Tyrrell Hatton currently holding that position. He'll aim to fend off Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka next month in Chicago, in LIV's final individual tournament of the 2024 season.

LIV Golf's Chicago tournament takes place from 13 to 15 September.

📍Rory Commits To European Tour: Rory McIlroy has confirmed his place in the field for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, meaning the Northern Irishman is set to be reunited with Tyrrell Hatton.

McIlroy's participation in the DP World Tour event was confirmed on Monday, and the Northern Irishman will be playing in the Pro-Am event alongside his father Gerry. The father-son duo, who won the team side of the event in 2019, are returning to the Scottish-based event as past winners.

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DRIVING RANGE
Cup Drill To Improve Your Game

In today's video, we talk about Early Extension and a drill that could help you improve your golf game.

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