Jason Day will miss the 2026 Presidents Cup after International captain Geoff Ogilvy decided the former world No. 1’s lingering back injury made him too risky a selection. Day, a five-time Presidents Cup player, withdrew before the 3M Open and Rocket Classic earlier this season and missed the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time in 18 years.
Ogilvy said he spoke with Day extensively but could not be certain the 38-year-old would withstand four days of competition at Medinah Country Club later this month. “It just didn’t feel [like a] 100 percent guarantee that he could make it through four days of the Presidents Cup,” Ogilvy said. “It was a bit risky.” The captain also cited last year’s Ryder Cup controversy involving Viktor Hovland, who was unable to play Sunday singles after suffering a neck injury.
That incident exposed the rarely used injury-envelope rule, under which each captain designates one player who will sit out if an opponent is injured. Hovland’s scheduled match against Harris English at Bethpage Black was halved when Hovland could not compete, prompting U.S. captain Keegan Bradley to call for a rule change. The rule has been used only twice previously in the Ryder Cup—in 1991 and 1993—and never in the Presidents Cup.
Ogilvy instead selected Corey Conners, Sungjae Im, Ryo Hisatsune, Nick Taylor, Nico Echavarria and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Bezuidenhout, ranked 96th in the world, was the most unexpected pick but owns a 3-1-0 Presidents Cup record and strong putting and iron-play statistics. The Americans will bring a formidable lineup led by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who recently won the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup, along with Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay. The United States is 13-1-1 all-time in the Presidents Cup and has never lost on home soil.