US Captain Tiger Woods Cracks Top 10 with Historic Masters Win

MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia – In arguably one of the greatest comeback in sports history, 2019 U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Tiger Woods secured his 81st career PGA TOUR title with a one-shot victory at the Masters Tournament for his 15th major championship title and first since 2008. The victory elevated Woods from No. 17 to No. 9 in the U.S. Team standings as he looks to become the second-ever playing captain and first since Hale Irwin in 1994.

The Presidents Cup will return to Melbourne, Australia and The Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the third time, December 9-15, 2019, when the International Team, led by Captain Ernie Els, will take on the U.S. Team led by Captain Woods.

Woods, an eight-time Presidents Cup participant, owns an overall Presidents Cup record of 24-15-1 and has the second-most match victories in Presidents Cup history behind Phil Mickelson (26). At Royal Melbourne in 2011, Woods posted a 2-3 record and secured the winning point with a 4-and-3 victory over Aaron Baddeley.

If Woods goes on to earn a spot on the 2019 team it would mark his first competitive performance in a Presidents Cup since 2013, where he also secured the winning point at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

Woods was one of six U.S. players to finish T5 or better at Augusta National, with each player currently no lower than 12th in the U.S. Presidents Cup standings. Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele all finished T2 while Webb Simpson and Tony Finau finished T5.

Johnson reclaimed the top spot in the standings from Justin Thomas (T12) and Koepka jumped two spots to No. 4.

Elsewhere in the top 10 at the Masters, Rickie Fowler and first-time hopeful Patrick Cantlay both finished T9 and sit at Nos. 7 and 13, respectively, in the standings.

Marc Leishman still leads the International Team standings and is one of four Australians inside the top 10. Jason Day moved two spots in the standings to No. 6 and improved his position as one of the top 8 automatic qualifiers. Day’s T5 at Augusta National came after he held a share of the 36-hole lead with four others, including fellow Aussie Adam Scott, who jumped three spots to No. 10 with an eventual T18 finish. Cameron Smith remains inside the top 10 at No.4.

Another bright spot for the International Team came from South African Justin Harding, who finished a respectable T12 after birdieing the 72^nd hole to remain at No. 7 in the standings. At 33 years old, Harding is in search of his first Presidents Cup appearance.

But the Presidents Cup hopeful who has made the most noise of late is Canada’s Corey Conners, who became the first player since 2010 to win on the PGA TOUR after Monday qualifying when he captured the Valero Texas Open for his maiden PGA TOUR title.

The win vaulted Conners from No. 39 to No. 10 in the International Team standings as the former U.S. Amateur runner-up looks to join captain’s assistant Mike Weir, Graham DeLaet and Adam Hadwin as Canadians to compete in the Presidents Cup. Captain Els will have the chance to see Conners compete up close this week when he is paired with him and Hadwin for the first two rounds of the RBC Heritage.

The top 15 players in the International and U.S. Presidents Cup Team Standings as of April 15, 2019 are listed below. Click here for the full Presidents Cup standings.

INTERNATIONAL

Rank    Player                           Country                        Points
1.         Marc Leishman              Australia                       136.30
2.         Louis Oosthuizen          South Africa                  130.43
3.         Hideki Matsuyama        Japan                            111.09
4.         Cameron Smith             Australia                       105.58
5.         Haotong Li                   China                           104.96
6.         Jason Day                      Australia                       94.90
7.         Justin Harding               South Africa                  94.79\
8.         Abraham Ancer             Mexico                         90.49
9.         Si Woo Kim                 Korea                           78.84
10.       Adam Scott                   Australia                       77.87
11.       Corey Conners              Canada                         75.22
12.       Sungjae Im                    Korea                           72.39
13.       Jazz Janewattananond     Thailand                       71.32
14.       Branden Grace             South Africa                  68.38
15.       Shugo Imahira               Japan                            66.18

UNITED STATES

Rank    Player                                       Points
1.         Dustin Johnson                         5,611
2.         Justin Thomas                           5,359
3.         Xander Schauffele                     5,055
4.         Brooks Koepka                         4,629
5.         Bryson DeChambeau                 4,471
6.         Matt Kuchar                             4,339
7.         Rickie Fowler                           3,940
8.         Tony Finau                               3,664
9.         Tiger Woods                             3,638
10.       Phil Mickelson                         3,515
11.       Gary Woodland                         3,511
12.       Webb Simpson                         3,223
13.       Patrick Cantlay                         3,206
14.       Charles Howell III                     3,106

International Team eligibility criteria
The top eight (8) international players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup team) from the Presidents Cup International Team Points List which shall be Official World Golf Ranking points accumulated in the time period from August 27, 2018 (Dell Technologies Championship) through August 25, 2019 (TOUR Championship).

Four Captain’s selections will be made at a to-be-determined later date.

U.S. Team eligibility criteria
The top eight (8) U.S. PGA TOUR members who have earned the most FedExCup points from September 11, 2017 (2017 BMW Championship) through 2019 TOUR Championship, weighted as follows:

(a) 2017 BMW Championship through 2018 TOUR Championship: 1 FedExCup point = 1 point
(b) First event of the 2018-2019 season through 2019 TOUR Championship: 1 FedExCup point = 2 points

Four Captain’s selections will be made at a to-be-determined later date.