• Trevor Immelman announces International Presidents Cup team.
• World No. 2 Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann have defected to LIV Golf series.
• The Internationals have only won one of the previous 13 editions, in Australia in 1998.

Trevor Immelman announced his International Presidents Cup roster on Tuesday, with six captain’s picks rounding out a team “eager” to take on the United States despite the absence of high-profile individuals due to their relocation to LIV Golf.

Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion from South Africa, stated it was sad to see players such as world number two Cameron Smith and 13th-ranked Joaquin Niemann ruled out after switching to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series and losing their PGA Tour status.

But he was pleased with the team he put together, which included previous Masters champions Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott.

“These are the players that wanted to be on the team,” Immelman said. “I want the guys that are committed.”

Scott will compete in his tenth Presidents Cup, while Matsuyama will compete in his fourth.

Five of the six captain’s picks are novices to the match play game, which pits an International team of players from all around the world against the United States in a battle structured after the Ryder Cup.

Taylor Pendrith of Canada, Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa, Cam Davis of Australia, Lee Kyoung-hoon of South Korea, and Sebastian Munoz of Colombia will all make their Presidents Cup debuts at Quail Hollow in North Carolina on September 22.

Immelman also chose South Korean Kim Si-woo for a team that includes eight rookies.

“We understand exactly the mountain that we have in front of us: Possibly the best American team ever assembled if you look at them on paper with their accomplishments and what their world rankings are,” Immelman said.

“But, hey, when you’re a little kid growing up outside of the US and you dream of playing on the PGA Tour, you dream of playing in major championships at the highest level.

“This is everything you’ve ever dreamed of — is having an opportunity to play against the best on their home soil, and that’s what we’re going to have here in a couple weeks.”

Matsuyama, Scott, South Koreans Im Sung-jae and Kim Jooh-yung, Canadian Corey Conners, and Chile’s Mito Pereira were the six players that qualified by points standings after the LIV Golf departures.

Immelman was given two additional captain’s picks after Smith and Niemann defected to LIV Golf, where both made their debuts last week in Boston.

South African Louis Oosthuizen, Indian Anirban Lahiri, and Mexican Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz were also left out.

“I’m not going to lie to you, absolutely it’s disappointing,” Immelman said of not having a player like Smith, who won his first major title at the British Open in July, at his disposal.

He claimed Smith and others kept him up to date on their plans as he sought to react to the rapidly changing scene.

He went on to say that the rebels were well aware that switching to LIV would rule them out of the Presidents Cup.

“Every single player, every single agent, every single caddie, everybody involved knew exactly the situation we are in,” Immelman said.

Immelman stated that his team will embrace its underdog status as the competition, which was postponed from 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak, returns.

The Internationals have only won one of the previous 13 editions, in Australia in 1998. In 2003, the two teams drew in South Africa.

Tiger Woods led the United States to a 16-14 win at Royal Melbourne in 2019, the Americans’ 11th victory.

On Wednesday, US captain Davis Love will make his captain’s picks, rounding out a roster that currently includes world number one Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, and Sam Burns.

“I don’t really think I have to play the underdog role up,” Immelman said. “I think everybody knows it. Everybody sees it clear as day.

“Our team has had a lot of adversity thrown at us over the last year or so. But adversity makes you stronger.”

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