Johnson Wagner has urged Brian Rolapp to allow a change to the Presidents Cup that would enable LIV Golf stars to feature at Medinah later this year.
The PGA Tour has arguably buried its head in the sand for far too long when it comes to the Presidents Cup.
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The International team has managed to win just one of the 15 stagings of the event. That sole victory came back in 1998, while it is well over two decades since the only tie.
Johnson Wagner suggests a change to the Presidents Cup involving LIV Golf stars
There have been moments in recent years when it has appeared that the International team could do something special. It was remarkable how Mike Weir’s men bounced back from losing the opening session 5-0 at Royal Montreal to win by the same scoreline the following day.
However, Team USA’s greater depth has shone through.
But perhaps there is a way for the gap to be closed.
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Few will forget how much of a blow it was for Trevor Immelman to lose Cam Smith and Joaquin Niemann shortly before the 2022 Presidents Cup, with the pair both joining LIV Golf.
And speaking on Scorecard on CBS, Johnson Wagner insisted that the PGA Tour would benefit from letting LIV players feature in the Presidents Cup again.
Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour
“I think when you look at the biggest destruction of the creation of LIV Golf, it’s the International Presidents Cup team,” he said.
“You had the reigning Players champion and Open champion leave for LIV, a week or two before the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow for captain Immelman. Joaquin Niemann, we all know what kind of star this young man could be. The captain structure of Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, the Internationals were making a run.
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“Specifically, I think back to Ernie Els and his captaincy, when he was creating the Shield, and they had this momentum, and then it just got completely cut off with LIV, and I think had things been a little different, I think we would have seen much better Presidents Cups the last two renditions.
“And if LIV ultimately goes away at the end of this season, and these guys start coming back to the PGA Tour, I think we’ve got to give Medinah a chance, I think Geoff Ogilvy’s going to be a fantastic captain, and then let’s see if these guys come back and the Internationals have some of these young stars available to them again.
“And maybe that’s what Rolapp should look at. Let LIV players play. I mean, if Ogilvy wants to pick a Cam Smith, let them come on. That would make it better.”
The LIV Golf players who would hand the International team a boost at the Presidents Cup
Firstly, it should be noted that Wagner is completely wrong to claim that no organisation suffered more following the start of LIV than the International team at the Presidents Cup.
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The DP World Tour would certainly like a strong word.
But the team was definitely impacted.
Two of the teams on LIV with the strongest identity, Ripper and Southern Guards, are made up of players who would qualify for the Internationals. And it is a similar story with Torque.
In fact, it is hard to imagine that Ogilvy would not pick Smith, Niemann, and Dean Burmester if given a chance.
Obviously, some PGA Tour players would not be at all comfortable with seeing LIV players added to the team. The Internationals’ biggest strength is their team spirit, and that could be rocked if the door was opened.
But it would benefit the PGA Tour and the Presidents Cup if the matches were a lot closer. And you could certainly make a strong case that including a handful of LIV players would make that happen.
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