“Really excited to announce Adam Hadwin as our next captain’s pick,” International Team Captain Ernie Els announced this evening. “Really excited to have you.”
With that, Els, who is captaining the team when it returns to Australia’s Royal Melbourne in the second week of December, made Hadwin the only Canadian pick on the team. Fellow Canadian Corey Conners was also expected to be in the mix for the team. Els also announced Australian Jason Day, Korea’s Sungjae Im, and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann were also picked for the team, joining players from China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, Mexico and South Africa. Four players are from Australia, with Day joining Marc Leishman, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith.
U.S. Team Captain Tiger Woods will announce his squad, in which he’s expected to be a playing captain, tomorrow.
Hadwin, 32, is 44th in the World Golf Rankings and 11th on the FedExCup, and has played very well in the early going of the 2019-20 season. “It’s been on my mind since the last one ended,” Hadwin said in early October. “It was such an incredible experience. Being a part of a team is something you rarely get in golf. So being part of such a great group of individuals that are all trying to come together for the same goal is special.”
Hadwin’s case for the team was made with his recent runner-up finish at the Safeway Open, which was followed by a tie for fourth at the Shriners Hospital for Children Open.
He’s the third Canadian to play on the team, following Mike Weir, who is an assistant captain with Els (Weir played in five Presidents Cups) and Graham DeLaet, who played in 2013.