The Five: Status of 'Team Kim' among five burning questions as Presidents Cup nears

The Presidents Cup picture is starting to take shape.

Four weeks from now (right after the BMW Championship), the U.S. Team’s auto qualifiers will lock. A week later, the International Team’s top six will be finalized. From there, it will be less than a month before the 24 competitors tee off at Medinah Country Club for the 16th Presidents Cup.

Who is on track to make the team? Which surprising names may miss the team? How will either team strategize once they are there? Can the Internationals end three decades of losing and best a vulnerable American side coming off a home Ryder Cup loss?

Some of those questions can’t be answered until the 24 competitors arrive on-site just outside Chicago, but there are loads of other thought starters to ponder as the countdown to Medinah continues. Let’s go through five of the biggest questions percolating right now.

Can Jackson Koivun make the U.S. Team?

The Jackson Koivun hype train is rightfully picking up steam. He just won his first PGA TOUR event in his third pro start and did it with Scottie Scheffler trying to chase him down.

It doesn’t feel like a fluke either. Not when Koivun sports the collegiate resume he does as a three-time SEC Player of the Year who won nearly every award there is to win (multiple times). He was widely considered one of the best collegiate prospects ever, and he quickly backed it up.

So, naturally, we wonder, what’s next? Which brings us to the Presidents Cup in September. Should Koivun make the team, despite his limited pro experience?

At 57th in the Presidents Cup points list, Koivun certainly won’t auto-qualify, and a captain’s pick would be more about projecting the future than evaluating the past. Even with Koivun’s torrid college resume, the U.S. talent pool is deep with players who have proven their merit for years in the pro ranks.

It’s a debate that percolates in the background ahead of every team event. Should the captains prioritize infusing youth into the team to help set up future iterations? Or should they solely focus on who is best equipped to help their specific team win? Traditionally, captains choose the latter. Though Luke Donald selecting Ludvig Åberg in 2023 is an example of putting youth first (it's worked pretty well).

Koivun’s campaign could succeed under either question, though his case is certainly more compelling when you consider the full picture. The 21-year-old projects to play for many U.S. teams over the next decade-plus, and it would be smart to get his feet wet during a home Presidents Cup instead of throwing him into a hostile road environment at the Ryder Cup in 2027 or Presidents Cup in 2028.

He’s no charity case, either. Koivun certainly proved that at TPC Twin Cities and throughout last year. He’s up to 73rd in the Official World Golf Ranking and 30th in the Data Golf Rankings.

But picking Koivun means you’re leaving other capable Americans off the team, and any argument for choosing him should require you to list who shouldn’t make the team. Only 12 will play for the U.S. Team at Medinah Country Club.

If Koivun sneaks into the FedExCup Playoffs and continues to play well, this debate will only intensify.

Will the Internationals keep Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim together?

Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim will both be part of the International Team, but will they play together?

The two developed into a dynamic pairing over the last two Presidents Cups, going 2-1-0 together, and delivered the highlight moment of the Internationals' ultimately unsuccessful push at Royal Montreal Golf Club. They are also two of the International Team’s building blocks. It seems natural that they would play together again.

But should they?

It’s conceivable that the International Team's top two players by Medinah are Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim.

Is it smart to pair them together or separate them? It’s a question often pondered at team events, and the International Team has employed the mega-star strategy before. No two players have played more matches together for the International side than Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama. For many of those years, they were the two best players, and the captains chose to pair them together with the hope of creating a vaunted duo. Instead, the two went 2-4-1 together. Ernie Els and Vijay Singh were frequent partners. They went 2-4-0 together.

It’s had mixed results for the Americans, too – most notably when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were paired together twice at the 2004 Ryder Cup and lost both matches.

As the Internationals face an uphill climb on away turf against a more proven U.S. side, is it best to try and shore up one match? Or hope to spread their best players throughout the lineup card to grab as many points as possible?

Will Patrick Cantlay make the U.S. squad?

Patrick Cantlay has been a part of every U.S. Team – Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup – since 2019. Will that continue?

Cantlay is 17th on the U.S. points list and not in his best form. For the first time in a long time, it seems possible.

Yet any conversation about Cantlay’s merits for Medinah must include his past successes. He has amassed a 16-9-2 across the two team events. He was a focal point of the U.S. Team’s efforts at Marco Simone in 2023 and has proven an ideal partner for another Xander Schauffele, another U.S. stalwart that is likely to make this team. If Snedeker seeks experience and a proven track record, Cantlay’s case is better than anyone.

Is Jason Day a lock for the Internationals?

In the same vein as Cantlay, will one of the International Team’s longtime mainstays miss out on Medinah?

Jason Day has been the Internationals' most puzzling star. He has played five Presidents Cups but has finished with a winning record in just one of them. He went 3-1-1 in 2013 at Muirfield Village. He holds a 3-12-3 record in the other four appearances, including a 0-4-1 record in 2015 as world No. 1.

Day has auto-qualified for each of his Presidents Cup appearances, but now is in the position to need a captain’s pick, currently ninth on the International Team’s points list. Will he get a pick?

It’s hard to imagine the Internationals without Day, particularly with a fellow Australian captaining the ship. He can provide valuable leadership to a team that will be trying to erase two decades of history. Yet if you go off current form, Day has not been one of the best 12 Internationals this year and particularly recently. Day hasn’t finished better than T38 since the Masters.

How will the Internationals fill out their roster?

While the U.S. Team feels largely set, outside of the last two or three spots, the back half of the International Team roster remains up for grabs. A solid top six have emerged: Si Woo Kim, Ryan Fox, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, Tom Kim and Adam Scott. It would be a shock if any of those players are not in Medinah, and they may be the six that auto-qualify when the International points list locks after the TOUR Championship.

But after that? Frequent Presidents Cup members Corey Conners and Day (Nos. 7 and 9 on the points list, respectively) are having down years. Nico Echavarria (No. 8) and Ryo Hisatsune (No. 11) have shown flashes on TOUR but are largely unproven. Some of the players that were expected to make the team – like Sungjae Im and Aldrich Potgieter – are outside the top 12 in the standings. DP World Tour regulars Casey Jarvis and Jayden Schaper are making their case, but they’ve played very little in the U.S.

It all adds up to an uncertain picture, one ripe for intrigue during the final stretch of the season. Does the International Team prioritize youth? Do they go with the hottest hands? Do they rely on experience? Do they try to take multiple players from the same country to help camaraderie? Does Geoff Ogilvy, having led the redesign of Medinah No. 3, have any inside secrets about the type of player that will suit the test the best?

The various directions they can go are fascinating. Ogilvy has a blank canvas to paint on.