Geoff Ogilvy is hopeful and assured the PGA Tour and LIV Golf may have aligned intently sufficient for him to contemplate choosing Australian stars together with Cameron Smith when he captains the Worldwide Workforce on the 2026 Presidents Cup.
Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champ, has been given the “humbling” function, crammed prior to now by a number of the sport’s best gamers, together with Greg Norman, Ernie Els and Gary Participant, who was the Australian’s first captain when he performed in 2007, for subsequent 12 months’s occasion at Medinah.
Whereas LIV gamers together with Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau performed Ryder Cup for crew USA in 2023, and are in line for choice once more this 12 months, there was no LIV presence ultimately 12 months’s Presidents Cup, an occasion run by the PGA Tour.
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However with “reunification” excessive on the agenda of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Ogilvy stated having the possibility to select the likes of Smith and Chilean star Joaquin Niemann, who has received three LIV occasions this 12 months, can be an enormous bonus.
“Completely, having Jaco and Cam and Herbie (Lucas Herbert) and Leish (Marc Leishman) to select can be nice for us,” Ogilvy stated from the US after his function was confirmed.
“There’s a bit to play out and the 2 excursions would clearly must turn into extra intently aligned.”
Ogilvy has a protracted historical past with the Presidents Cup having been a part of seven groups courting again to 2007, thrice as a participant and the previous 4 as a captain’s assistant, together with at Royal Melbourne in 2019.
He conceded there was some “meandering” throughout the early 2000s because the US dominated the occasion, however a renaissance launched by former captain Ernie Els in 2019, and the emergence of the primary era of gamers who grew up desirous to be on the crew, has created a brand new power.
The “motivation” of Korean star Tom Kim and Australia’s personal Min Woo Lee to topple the US might be one of many key parts to finish the profitable drought.
“It’s nice to have these younger personalities who’re flamboyant and excited. Enthusiasm is contagious and the extra enthusiasm you get contained in the crew the higher,” Ogilvy stated.
“It’s an necessary ingredient. Anytime you see any crew win in any sport there’s often numerous enthusiasm behind that, whether or not the gamers are the catalyst or the coach or the captain.
“Everybody has to show up, play nicely. You want belongings you go your approach, the US crew is all the time powerful to beat.
“However our guys, each single time we do that, they’re getting increasingly more motivated they usually need to win it increasingly more.
“It’s coming. A win is coming.”
Whereas the younger crop of gamers loom massive because the core of the crew, Ogilvy stated veteran Adam Scott, who has performed on the previous 11 groups, was additionally excessive in his plans.
“He’s nonetheless a really lively participant and extremely targeted on his golf. I’m hoping he’s taking part in,” he stated.
Ogilvy stated the status of the function he’d been given was not misplaced on him.
“Gary Participant was my first captain, simply an absolute legend of the game,” he stated.
“To even be thought-about, it’s very humbling and actually thrilling.”
The US crew will likely be captained by Brandt Snedeker, who will get his eye in as vice-captain for this 12 months’s Ryder Cup.
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The sixteenth Presidents Cup will likely be contested at Medinah Nation Membership’s Course No.3, a structure Ogilvy’s design agency OCM renovated greater than two years earlier than it was reopened in mid-2024.
However Ogilvy stated that data won’t be a lot of an element.
“These are the most effective gamers on the earth they usually work out a golf course fairly quick,” he stated.
Ogilvy drew excessive reward from Monahan as nicely, labelled the “excellent captain” for the 2026 occasion.
“Geoff will capitalise on the upward development of the Worldwide Workforce,” he stated.
“Together with his pedigree as a serious champion and expertise within the crew room, Geoff was primed to tackle this function.”