LIV Golf stars left stunned as Presidents Cup now denies them entry!

LIV Golf's biggest American and International stars have been left stunned today after the new qualifying criteria for the 2024 Presidents Cup ruled them all out of competing in the biennial contest.

According to the new qualifying criteria laid out ahead of the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal in Canada, all players from both the International and United States side must be eligible to compete in PGA Tour sanctioned competitions.

That will include all automatic qualifiers and captain's picks. 

Internationals captain Mike Weir will be afforded six picks (instead of their usual four picks), which will be the same amount handed to USA captain Jim Furyk. 

Six players will then play their way automatically into both teams. 

JUST IN: The qualifying criteria for the 2024 @PresidentsCup has been announced. Key things to note:

▪️International Captain Mike Weir is going to use 6 picks (versus the usual 4)

▪️All players from either side (automatic qualifiers and captain’s picks) must be eligible to… pic.twitter.com/VLsi6HvDEF

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) October 24, 2023

There will be no LIV Golf players at the 2024 Presidents Cup

The Official World Golf Ranking system will be used to determine the 2024 International Presidents Cup team. 

With all LIV Golf League events remaining shut out of receiving OWGR points, it means the likes of Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Mito Pereira, Anirban Lahiri and Sebastian Munoz will all be shunned from the Presidents Cup in 2024. 

When it comes to the 2024 US Presidents Cup team, all players will need to have competed in PGA Tour sanctioned events.

Given all LIV Golf players remain suspended by the PGA Tour, it means they will not be allowed to qualify for the team. 

This means no place for US LIV Golf stars such as Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch. 

The Presidents Cup was created and organized by the PGA Tour, hence the rather aggressive changes that have been made to the qualifying criteria in light of LIV Golf entering its third season in 2024. 

The PGA Tour and DP World Tour currently have a framework agreement in place with LIV Golf's bankrollers, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), but an official decision on that is likely to be pushed into the new year. 

Here's a look at the new qualifying criteria for eligibility into the 2024 Presidents Cup, which will take place in the last week of September. 

Internationals

The 2024 Presidents Cup International will be comprised of six automatic qualifiers and six captain's picks.

• The Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points system will be used to determine the 2024 International Team.
• The automatic qualifiers will be the top six eligible International players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup team) in the OWGR standings after the completion of the 2024 BMW Championship. The captain will select six picks the week of the 2024 Tour Championship, at a date to be determined later.
• To be eligible for automatic qualification, players need to compete in 15 or more OWGR-related events from September 12, 2022 through the 2024 BMW Championship (August 26, 2024); however, a player will not be penalized for missing time due to injury, illness or serious personal emergency. There is no minimum number of events for captain's picks. 
• There is no set time period for OWGR point accumulation. All OWGR points awarded through the 2024 BMW Championship will apply towards determining the top six automatic qualifiers. 
• All players (automatic qualifers and captain's picks) must be eligible to compete in PGA Tour sanctioned tournament competitons. 

United States

The top six US PGA Tour members who have earned the most FedEx Cup Points from January 1 2023 through August 25 2024, weighted as follows:

• 2023 Sentry through 2023 BMW Championship (1 FedEx Cup = 1 point)
• 2023 Fortinet Championship through 2023 RSM Classic (1 FedEx Cup = 1 point)
• 2024 Players and Majors (1 FedEx Cup point = 2 points) 
• 2024 Signature Events and Playoffs (1 FedEx Cup point = 1.5 points)
• 2024 all other PGA Tour events (1 FedEx Cup points = 1.5 points) 
• Six captain's picks to be named on a date TBD

Going on the above critiera, here's a look at how both teams would stand if the Presidents Cup were to be played this week: 

Internationals: 

1. Tom Kim
2. Jason Day
3. Sungjae Im
4. Ryan Fox
5. Corey Conners
6. Emiliano Grillo
7. Hideki Matsuyama
8. Si Woo Kim
9. Cam Davis
10. Min Woo Lee
11. Adam Scott
12. Adam Hadwin

United States: 

1. Scottie Scheffler
2. Max Homa
3. Wyndham Clark
4. Collin Morikawa
5. Patrick Cantlay
6. Eric Cole 
7. Xander Schauffele
8. Lucas Glover
9. Rickie Fowler
10. Brian Harman
11. Sam Burns
12. Sahith Theegala

Team USA are the defending champions. 

What do you make of these Preisdents Cup qualfiying changes? Should it really be much of a surprise given the Presidents Cup is run by the PGA Tour? Share your thoughts and comments over on the GolfMagic social media channels.

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