Geoff Ogilvy, captain of the International team at the Presidents Cup, has revealed he asked the PGA Tour on several occasions whether there was any possibility that LIV Golf players would be eligible for the Medinah meeting at the end of September. The answer was always the same. Door closed

The Australian raised the issue for the first time two years ago, when he first took the role, and raised it again afterwards. The initial response was not a definitive no, but the situation did not evolve enough to change the rules

“Yes, I asked several times. I did it two years ago, when I started this job: ‘Is there going to be any possibility?’ They answered me: ‘It’s not that there won’t be any possibility, but we’ll have to see how things evolve’”. I suppose it hasn’t evolved to the point where they are prepared to allow it, Ogilvy explained in a press appearance with Australian media

Ogilvy did not request a specific exemption to select Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert or Joaquín Niemann. His request was broader: he wanted access to all international players, regardless of the circuit they competed on

In any case, the Presidents Cup rules require that both automatic qualifiers and the captain’s picks are eligible to compete in PGA Tour‑sanctioned events. As such, LIV members who remain suspended or who no longer meet that requirement cannot be selected

This is not new. It already happened in the 2022 and 2024 editions. And it does not only affect the International team, but also the United States, as in the case of Bryson DeChambeau. Ogilvy is aware of that, but believes the blow has hit the International team harder

His argument is particularly supported by what happened in 2022. Ogilvy was then an assistant to Trevor Immelman and experienced first‑hand the upheaval caused by the departures to LIV a few weeks before the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow

Cameron Smith and Joaquín Niemann were first and fourth in the international standings and had secured automatic spots. Both joined LIV on 30 August and ceased to be eligible. In that same wave Marc Leishman and Anirban Lahiri left, two obvious candidates for an invitation

“Trevor Immelman had very, very bad luck in 2022 in Charlotte. A month before the tournament we lost three or four players who would have been on the team. I think our side, the International, came off slightly worse than the United States. They also lost good players, but this year it wasn’t an option”, Ogilvy said

Immelman had to rebuild the group and ended up presenting a team with eight debutants. The Internationals were as much as 8-2 down, fought back over the weekend and ended up losing 17.5 to 12.5

The United States dominate the Presidents Cup with 13 wins, one loss and a tie, and will arrive in Medinah seeking their eleventh consecutive victory. The only win for the International team came at Royal Melbourne in 1998; in 2003 there was a tie and since then it has been all defeats

“The future of LIV is currently very uncertain. Looking ahead, it would be great if, whatever the outcome of this, international players —and also all Americans, to be fair— were available. It’s a great competition and it would be fantastic to be able to choose from all the talent”, added the 2006 US Open champion

Ogilvy’s team is made up of Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Nico Echavarria, Ryo Hisatsune, Sungjae Im and Nick Taylor as captain’s picks, who joined the six automatic qualifiers: Si Woo Kim, Ryan Fox, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee, Tom Kim and Adam Scott. The competition will be played from 24 to 27 September on course number 3 at Medinah Country Club