Standings update: Two months to secure automatic berths

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Melbourne, Victoria, AUS -- The British Open is in the rearview mirror and with the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup rapidly approaching, players have roughly two months remaining to improve their position in the standings and secure one of the 10 automatic berths for either the U.S. or International teams for The Presidents Cup 2011. Following the BMW Championship, Sept. 18, the top 10 players in both the U.S. and International team standings will automatically qualify for the biennial event, which returns to The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Nov. 15-20, 2011.

Players currently in the top 10 of the U.S. and International team standings have combined for 10 victories and 77 top 10s on the PGA TOUR through the season's first 31 weeks. Players lurking outside the top 10 still have time with eight events remaining to earn points, including this week's RBC Canadian Open. The International Team will consist of the top 10 international players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup team) from the Official World Golf Ranking as of Sunday, Sept. 18. The U.S. Team will be made up of the top-10 U.S. players who earn the most official PGA TOUR money beginning with the 2009 Wyndham Championship through the 2011 BMW Championship, with points doubled for money earned in 2011. Each team's roster of 12 players will be rounded out when International Team Captain Greg Norman and U.S. Team Captain Fred Couples announce their captains' selections, Wednesday, Sept. 28.

Despite 14 players currently in the top 20 of the U.S. standings having never played in The Presidents Cup, veterans like Steve Stricker (No. 1), Phil Mickelson (No. 3), Jim Furyk (No. 8) and David Toms (No. 9) could provide the balance and leadership Captain Couples is looking for in his squad. Stricker has won twice (the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance, John Deere Classic) on the PGA TOUR in the last two months and is the only player to record multiple PGA TOUR victories over the last three years (2009-11). Mickelson returned to form with a T2 last week at the British Open and has been a member of every U.S. Team since The Presidents Cup's inception in 1994 (the only player to hold that distinction), while Furyk and Toms have a combined record of 21-17-4 in nine appearances.

Though they may lack experience at The Presidents Cup, Matt Kuchar (No. 2), Dustin Johnson (No. 5), Bubba Watson (No. 6), Rickie Fowler (No. 19) and Jeff Overton (No. 20) gained valuable experience as members of the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup Team. And Bill Haas (No. 10), Mark Wilson (No. 16) and Jonathan Byrd (No. 17) have all claimed multiple PGA TOUR victories since the start of the 2010 season.

Combined, the current top 20 in the U.S. Team standings have accounted for 29 PGA TOUR victories since the start of the 2010 season, including multiple victories by Stricker (4), Furyk (3), Watson (3), Byrd (2), Haas (2), Johnson (2), Mahan (2), Mickelson (2) and Watney (2).

Australian Jason Day currently stands atop the International Team standings on the strength of a victory last year at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and seven top 10s on TOUR in 2011, highlighted by runner-up performances at both the Masters Tournament and U.S. Open. Just behind Day is Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, who bested day and Australian Adam Scott (No. 4) to win the Masters in April. Schwartzel leads a host of South Africans currently in the top 10, including veterans Retief Goosen (No. 5), Ernie Els (No. 6) and Tim Clark (No. 10), along with 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen (No. 8).

K.J. Choi, who won THE PLAYERS Championship in May and is enjoying perhaps his best year with six top 10s, leads a trio of South Koreans in the top 10 of the International Team standings at No. 2. Joining Choi are 25-year-old Kyung-Tae Kim (No. 7) and 2009 PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang (No. 9).

Similar to the Americans, a number of players are in position to make the International Team for the first time. Day (No. 1), Schwartzel (No. 2), Kim (No. 7), Oosthuizen (No. 8) and Aaron Baddeley (No. 15) are all looking to make their Presidents Cup debut. At No. 15, Baddeley is among a group of Australians, including Robert Allenby (No. 11) and Geoff Ogilvy (No. 12), who need a strong finish over the next two months to ensure a position on the International Team and compete in the first Presidents Cup in Australia since 1998.

The Presidents Cup, a team match play competition featuring 24 of the world's top golfers -- 12 from the United States and 12 from around the world, excluding Europe -- is held every two years, and since 1996 has alternated between United States and international venues. The Presidents Cup was developed to give the world's best non-European players an opportunity to compete in international team match-play competition. The U.S. Team has won six of the eight previous Presidents Cups, and the only win by the International Team came at the 1998 event in Melbourne. The 2003 Presidents Cup ended in a tie.

Players are not personally paid for their participation in The Presidents Cup; there is no purse or prize money. Each competitor, instead, designates charities or golf-related projects of his choice to receive a portion of the funds raised through the staging of each Presidents Cup. On behalf of the players, captains and captains' assistants, more than $4.2 million was distributed to charitable causes from The Presidents Cup 2009. Additional donations were made to The First Tee of San Francisco and the Victorian Bushfire Appeal in 2009 and to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal following the Queensland floods in March 2011. In total, more than $23 million has been raised for charity since the inception of The Presidents Cup in 1994.

The Presidents Cup will return to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, November 15-20, 2011, where it will be played at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club. For more information about The Presidents Cup, please visit the Presidents Cup website.