U.S. Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker encouraged the players he left off his team to use their disappointment as motivation, telling them to make him look like an idiot as quickly as possible. Speaking at Medinah Country Club on Tuesday, Snedeker said he expects the snubbed players to win tournaments and prove his selections wrong.
Among the most prominent omissions was J.J. Spaun, the world's 12th-ranked golfer and 2025 U.S. Open champion, who received a brief 45-second phone call from Snedeker last Monday informing him he would not be selected. Spaun believed he was on track for one of Snedeker's captain's picks based on recent conversations with the U.S. skipper.
Six days after learning of his omission, Spaun won the BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour at Wentworth. Before his victory, Spaun had not recorded a top-10 finish since late June and made only one cut at the four major championships this year. After his win, Spaun reflected on using the snub as extra motivation, saying he was determined to prove something.
Other players on Snedeker's bubble included Ryan Gerard and Akshay Bhatia, who received similar encouragement to channel their disappointment into future success. The captain acknowledged the difficulty of his selection process, saying his gut instincts guided the final decisions. Snedeker expressed regret about leaving Spaun off the team, calling him a great person he loves dearly.