Anthony Kim knows what it takes to win a Presidents Cup, having been a part of the team, along with Jim Furyk, which won the 2009 event at Harding Park.
What Anthony Kim did in both the 2008 Ryder Cup and the 2009 Presidents Cup only added to his legend when he disappeared from the game a few years later. Kim was a poster boy at Valhalla in a US side which got its first taste of being without Tiger Woods.
And he was even more impressive one year later, winning three points from his four matches in San Francisco. In fact, he played two matches alongside Jim Furyk while he came up against Mike Weir on two occasions.
Of course, the pair are now captains of their respective sides for this year’s event at Royal Montreal.
Anthony Kim sends message ahead of the Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup is a PGA Tour event, so once again, there are no LIV Golf players involved. That was a particularly big blow for the International team last time around, with Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann first and fourth in the qualification standings for Quail Hollow. Their moves in the weeks before the event meant that they were ineligible for Charlotte.
The future of the Presidents Cup is hard to predict given the question mark over the talks between the PGA Tour and PIF. But clearly, Kim feels that the event would be even better with players from his tour being able to qualify.
Writing on X on Thursday, Kim sent a message to the two teams before making the case for his league…
LIV players must not have their cake and be able to eat it
Certainly, it would be particularly beneficial for the International team to have LIV players available to them, with Niemann, Smith, Louis Oosthuizen and Dean Burmester finishing in the top 10 in the individual standings this season.
However, the obstacles put in front of Trevor Immelman’s team two years ago only seemed to help bring them together. Whether they truly felt that way or not, there seemed to be a sense of betrayal that fuelled those who played at Quail Hollow, particularly after they got off to a rough start. And it made their fight back over the final two days even more satisfying and emotional.
But letting those players return to the PGA Tour and play in the Presidents Cup without some sort of punishment would not be fair. They cannot be allowed to have their cake and eat it also.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the team is made up by the time the 2026 event starts to emerge on the horizon. Most will be hoping that the game has come back together by then.
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