At the Presidents Cup, who isn’t playing stands out: the women’s International team would be a ‘beast’

MEDINAH, Ill. — At this week’s Presidents Cup, the International team is facing the United States at Medinah Country Club. But the conversation around the event has also highlighted who is not playing.

The discussion began with an email from a GOLF.com reader, Sam, who proposed a new team event matching the best women from the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere in the world against the United States and Europe. The Solheim Cup currently matches 12 U.S. women against 12 Europeans, but there is no International women’s event in that format.

A potential International roster would include:

• Jeeno Thitikul, Thailand — world No. 2; • Haeran Ryu, Korea — No. 3; • Hyojoo Kim, Korea — No. 4; • Miyu Yamashita, Japan — No. 5; • Ruoning Yin, China — No. 6; • Sei Young Kim, Korea — No. 9; • Hannah Green, Australia — No. 10; • Brooke Henderson, Canada — No. 11; • Lydia Ko, New Zealand — No. 12; • Shiho Kuwaki, Japan — No. 13; • Gaby Lopez, Mexico — No. 14; • Minsol Kim, Korea — No. 15; • Minjee Lee, Australia — No. 16.

Piastowski showed the list to New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who is playing for the International team at the Presidents Cup.

“The worst player is No. 16?” Fox said. “That would be the strongest team on paper of any team — U.S. team, U.S. men’s team, whatever. Maybe that’s why they won’t do it.”

The current international women’s team event is the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, an eight-team competition featuring four players per team. It will be played next year at Lake Merced Golf Club in California. Piastowski noted that television ratings may be one reason there is no International version of the Solheim Cup. This year’s Solheim Cup drew 179,000 viewers on Golf Channel on Saturday and 170,000 on Sunday. By comparison, Sunday singles at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black peaked at 5.3 million viewers. The Solheim Cup was held in the Netherlands, six hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast, and during the first week of the NFL season.

Another possibility would be a mixed event featuring six men and six women. The idea is occasionally raised during Presidents Cup years, partly because the Internationals have won only once in 15 attempts. Sam, however, said a mixed format could prevent the women from fully showcasing their abilities against U.S. and European teams.

The idea received support from several Presidents Cup players — Ryan Fox, Corey Conners, Adam Scott, Nick Taylor, Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim — as well as International captain Geoff Ogilvy. Si Woo Kim summed up the general view: “These are a beast.”

Min Woo Lee, the brother of Minjee Lee, also endorsed the roster. “Yeah, it would be a pretty good team,” he said. “The worst player is my sister, and she’s 16th in the world.”

The Americans were receptive, too. Xander Schauffele said sponsors would likely support the concept. Wyndham Clark added: “Yeah, we’d have stress. I mean, it’s basically two through 16 in the world. Yeah, that would be tough. Maybe we shouldn’t do it because we’d probably lose.”

This article is based on Nick Piastowski’s report for GOLF.com.