Published July 17, 2008 on May 2, 2019

Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan Moves Closer Towards Qualifying for Presidents Cup

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Two players made significant moves toward qualifying for their first Presidents Cup over the past two weeks, with Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan coming from behind to win the RBC Heritage for his first career PGA TOUR victory while the United States’ Ryan Palmer teamed with Jon Rahm to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for his fourth career PGA TOUR title and first since 2010. The wins moved Pan and Palmer to Nos. 8 and 19, respectively, in the International and U.S. Team standings.

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 Tiger Woods.

Pan is looking to become the first player from Chinese Taipei to qualify for the Presidents Cup, which would be a momentous occasion for a country in which golf has room to grow. Pan is doing his part to help develop the next generation of golfers in Chinese Taipei through the C.T. Pan Junior Championship that is operated by the American Junior Golf Association. Pan was set to host 10 junior golfers from Chinese Taipei to compete against several of the United States’ top-ranked juniors in the inaugural event in Houston but was urged by his wife, Michelle, to compete in the RBC Heritage and leave the hosting to her.

“It would be my biggest honour to play under Captain Els. I definitely want to do my part to win the Presidents Cup,” Pan said. “And back home in Taiwan, I mean, we don’t have a Ryder Cup in Asia. And I just feel it’s kind of unfortunate for the golf fans back home in Asia. And I think the Presidents Cup will be something like that. And it will inspire more kids to play golf or inspire more people to follow golf.”

After jumping from No. 31 to No. 8 in the standings, Pan will look to maintain his current position through the FedExCup Playoffs in August, when the top 8 automatic qualifiers will become official following the BMW Championship.

The top 15 in the International Team standings remained stagnant following the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, with Australia’sMarc Leishman retaining the top spot in the standings for the 20^th consecutive week dating back to the Hero World Challenge (2 Dec).

Jason Day (No. 6) and Adam Scott (No. 11) gave Australian fans a potential prelude to a Presidents Cup pairing at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where the Aussies opened with a solid 65 in Four-ball before shooting 72 in Foursomes to miss the cut by one stroke.

On the U.S. side, Palmer’s win moved him from No. 40 to No. 19 in the standings in his quest to earn a Presidents Cup debut. Having competed full-time on the PGA TOUR since 2004, the 42-year-old’s return to the winner’s circle was a long time coming after recording six total runner-up finishes since his last victory at the 2010 Sony Open in Hawaii. Palmer’s game had also been trending in the right direction since the beginning of the 2018-19 PGA TOUR Season with three top-10 finishes in his first eight starts.

“I always felt I could win again. Just so many things have to go right that week to win, and you’ve got to have luck on your side throughout the week, obviously, and a great game,” Palmer said. “I’ve had a lot of chances since then, a lot of second-place finishes, a lot of third- or fourth-place finishes, and just never could get over that hump. One round kind of kept me out of it each time. But I just kept believing in what I was doing. I knew my game was good enough.”

Dustin Johnson remains at No. 1 for the U.S. Team following a week where the standings remained relatively consistent. 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play champion Kevin Kisner continued his stellar play of late with a T5 finish with partner Scott Brown and moved up two spots to No. 14.

Matt Kuchar took the week off after recording his second runner-up finish and sixth top-10 result in 13 starts this season at the RBC Heritage. Kuchar, currently No. 4 in the standings, is one of two players in the U.S. standings with two wins on the PGA TOUR this season, joining Xander Schauffele, who sits at No. 3.

Captain Woods remains at No. 9 in the standings and is scheduled to compete in his first PGA TOUR event since his Masters triumph at the PGA Championship, May 16-19.

The top 15 players in the International and U.S. Presidents Cup Team Standings as of April 29, 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 C.T. Pan                       Chinese Taipei             94.58

9 Abraham Ancer             Mexico                         90.49

10 Si Woo Kim                 Korea                           78.84

11 Adam Scott                   Australia                       77.87

12 Corey Conners             Canada                         75.22

13 Sungjae Im                   Korea                           72.39

14 Jazz Janewattananond    Thailand                       71.32

15 Branden Grace              South Africa                  68.38

 

 

UNITED STATES

Rank    Player                                      Points

1 Dustin Johnson                         5,667

2 Justin Thomas                           5,359

3 Xander Schauffele                     5,064

4 Matt Kuchar                             4,939

5 Brooks Koepka                         4,646

6 Bryson DeChambeau                4,471

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 Patrick Cantlay                         3,496

13 Webb Simpson                         3,313

14 Kevin Kisner                            3,106

15 Charles Howell III                    3,106