MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) — Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker chose not to use any of his six picks on J.J. Spaun, the 2025 U.S. Open champion and a winner at the Texas Open earlier in the year. Spaun said he was referred to as the “odd man odd” and was surprised and disappointed in being left off the U.S. team.
He said it motivated him when he got to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, and Spaun birdied four of his last five holes to win, becoming
only the third American to capture Europe's flagship event. The others were Billy Horschel (twice) and Arnold Palmer. The victory moved him to No. 12 in the world.
Spaun said Snedeker called him the Monday after the Tour Championship — Spaun had to withdraw with a sore shoulder — and the phone call lasted under a minute.
“Just said I wasn’t on the team, and said I was the odd man out and I wished him luck and that was it,” Spaun said.
Snedeker, speaking to the snub on Tuesday at Medinah, said he had to follow his instincts on his picks, noting he also bypassed Ryan Gerard (No. 23 in the world), Bay Hill winner Akshay Bhatia and even Gary Woodland, one of his assistants this week.
“I feel awful for J.J., and I always will, because he’s a great dude and I love the guy to death,” Snedeker said. “That being said, he’s a competitor. Like, I knew this was going to happen. I told all the guys that didn’t make the team, ‘Your job is to go make me look like an idiot as quick as possible.’”
Spaun must have taken that to heart.
“Give them something to go set their sights on, they’re going to do it,” Snedeker said. "I can’t wait to see J.J. get off to a great start next year, and I would be shocked if he’s not on the (Ryder Cup) team in Ireland.
The John Deere Classic is back among qualifying sites for the British Open next year. Still to be determined is whether a leading player from LIV Golf gets a spot at St. Andrews.
The R&A on Tuesday released its qualifying criteria for the 155th Open Championship, ranging from its Open Qualifying Series of tournaments around the world to the traditional spots for major champions and leading players from top tour points list.
Joaquin Niemann earned a spot at Royal Birkdale this year as the leading player on LIV Golf's points list through its eighth event (Andalucia) on the 2026 schedule. Now that LIV's future is uncertain as it goes through Chapter 11 bankruptcy without Saudi funding, it's not part of the criteria.
“The exemption for the LIV Golf Order of Merit remains under review until the 2027 LIV Golf schedule is confirmed,” the R&A said in its release.
For the PGA Tour, the Open Qualifying Series again offers a spot to the leading player not already exempt at the Memorial and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, along with three spots at the Canadian Open and Scottish Open.
The John Deere Classic also gets one spot, as it did in 2024.
J.J. Spaun always wanted to feel like a global golfer, and winning the European tour’s flagship event is a great way to start. That it happened in England at the BMW PGA Championship was only fitting.
The 36-year-old Californian has been a huge fan of “Clarkson’s Farm” for the last few years. His wife told him Jeremy Clarkson would be at Wentworth, and she carried around a cardboard face of Clarkson during the final round.
They also took their first overseas trip together to Cotswold three years ago, which led to a most interesting promise.
Spaun was off to a great start in 2025, contending in the Sony Open, runner-up at the Cognizant Classic and losing in a playoff to Rory McIlroy at The Players Championship.
That’s when his wife offered him a wager. If Spaun were to win a tournament, he would buy a cottage in Cotswold. Spaun thought that wasn’t a big enough feat. So his wife upped the ante by asking if he would do it by winning a major.
“Of course if I won a major, I’ll do whatever you want,” Spaun said he told her.
Just over two months later, he won the U.S. Open at Oakmont.
“She’s sending me listings on Zillow the following day,” Spaun said. “We’ve come to a compromise. We don’t own a cottage yet.”
Twelve years after Nick Taylor won the first of his five PGA Tour titles, the 38-year-old Canadian finally gets to play in the Presidents Cup.
It's a bit surprising considering he has reached the Tour Championship twice, and delivered big moments like winning the Canadian Open and taking down Phil Mickelson at Pebble Beach.
“Two of my best years were gap years,” Taylor said Tuesday. Those were in 2023 and 2025, also known as Ryder Cup years. “To sneak onto this one, I think I was relieved more than anything.”
Most devastating was 2024, a big year for Canadians because of the Olympics and the Presidents Cup being at Royal Montreal. Taylor won the Phoenix Open and reached a career-best No. 24 in the world in March. But he struggled the rest of the year and missed the cut in all four majors, other Canadians played well and he was left off the team.
He appreciated International captain Geoff Ogilvy not only picking him, but getting to the good news in a hurry without making him sweat.
Taylor has company with British Open champion Ryan Fox, a 39-year-old from New Zealand also playing in his first Presidents Cup. What they're missing is more than two decades of not winning against the Americans.
“We don't have any scar tissue,” Taylor said.
The leading 15 players from the Epson Tour who earn LPGA status for 2027 won’t just be getting an LPGA card. They also get a commemorative staff golf bag from Sun Mountain to celebrate their achievement.
The Epson Tour Championship is next week at Indian Wells in California. The commemorative bags will have the players’ names stitched on the bag, and they will be presented during the card ceremony Oct. 4 following the final round.
“Earning an LPGA Tour card is the culmination of years of work and sacrifice, and this commemorative bag is symbolic of the journey each player has taken, and the next phase of their career where a caddie and staff bag is required,” said Jody Brothers, general manager of the Epson Tour.
“Years from now, when these players look back on their careers, I think these bags will be every bit as meaningful as any trophy or award in their collection because of what they represent.”
Among those currently in the top 15 are Kaleiya Romero, the sister of Kiara Romero; 2025 U.S. Amateur champion Megha Ganne and Carla Bernat, who won the 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Delta Airlines, which already boasts flights to Augusta, Georgia, during the Masters, will be launching nonstop service to Monterey, California, in December (from Los Angeles and Salt Lake City) for next year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. ... The Asian Tour has canceled its qualifying tournament for 2027, referring to a “rebuilding year” having lost Saudi funding for its International Series that had been a feeder circuit for LIV Golf. The tour said it would issue refunds. ... Sandy Scott winning the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship made him the seventh player on the Korn Ferry Tour to be guaranteed a PGA Tour card for 2027. That leaves 13 more cards available with two tournaments remaining.
Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune give Japan two players in the Presidents Cup for the first time since 1998, the only year the Internationals won.
“Match play was more fun when they were harder to beat.” — Geoff Ogilvy, a two-time Match Play champion and International captain at the Presidents Cup.
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