Brandt Snedeker “Knew” J.J. Spaun Would Win Quickly After Team USA Rejection

Brandt Snedeker made a few surprising picks when he assembled his team for this week’s Presidents Cup at Medinah, but the biggest one may have been leaving off J.J. Spaun.

When the points race closed after the BMW Championship and the top six automatically made Team USA, Spaun was ranked 10th. It’s not often you see a player ranked inside the top 10 not make the team. But Snedeker went with Jacob Bridgeman (12th), Patrick Cantlay (13th), and rising star Jackson Koivun.

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Instead of pouting, Spaun, less than three weeks after getting snubbed, traveled across the pond and won the BMW PGA Championship, one of the DP World Tour’s biggest events. Earlier this year, he won the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open the week before the Masters.

After arriving at Medinah on Monday, Snedeker addressed leaving off Spaun, and said he knew it wouldn’t take long for the 2025 U.S. Open champion to rebound.

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“I want to say, I’m so happy for J.J. Spaun…What he did on the back nine was really special…The hardest thing (a captain has) to do is pick 12 guys…I knew the minute I made that phone call, he was going to win something really quick. That’s what great players do,” Snedeker said.

In his Team USA debut at Bethpage Black last year, Spaun went 2-1-0 against the Europeans. Medinah would’ve been his first Presidents Cup appearance.

As for Snedeker, his attention now turns to the International Team. The first session kicks off Thursday, and that will be followed by another lone session on Friday, two on Saturday, and finally, Sunday Singles.

The pressure on Sneds? Team USA has won the last 10 Presidents Cups outright, and hasn’t lost since 1998 (the Internationals only win).