By now, everyone is aware of the specifics. J.J. Spaun hoped to play on the Presidents Cup team, but he hadn’t played well enough until September to warrant a position. At least, according to captain Brandt Snedeker. Things changed following his historic win last Sunday, however, when Spaun revealed the details of a 45-second call. It, to put it simply, shoved Snedeker in a place most would rather avoid.

Spaun revealed that the USA captain called him on a Monday morning. The call lasted only about 45 seconds. Snedeker told him he was not on the team and called him the “odd man out.” When reporters asked Spaun to confirm those words, he did not hesitate. “Yeah, he did. You can quote me on that,” Spaun said. Snedeker was asked point blank about it, and he gave a curious reply.

“I’m not going to give specifics on the players that didn’t make our team. I feel like this process is about the 12 players we did select. There are plenty of guys who, unfortunately, didn’t make the team. That sucks for them,” Snedeker said at Medinah. “There’s a lot of factors that go into these decisions. It’s tough. It’s not fair to a lot of these guys. That’s the way it comes.” Before you raise your pitchforks, Snedeker does have solid (stats) backing.

Spaun finished 10th in the Presidents Cup rankings (5,023 points), buoyed mostly by his U.S. Open and the Valero Texas Open wins. He also extended his PGA Tour schedule to the Tour Championship. But aside from that, he didn’t have a remarkable season.

He played 23 events, missing the cut in seven of them. Add to that the setback from the shoulder injury, and his withdrawal from the Tour Championship just weeks before Snedeker made his picks. Suddenly… it makes sense. Of course, you can make the argument that a lot of other players aren’t promising either.

Patrick Cantlay ranked 13th on the Presidents Cup list, with zero wins either on the PGA Tour or in the majors. Or Jackson Koivun, ranked 48th in the standings after minimal starts on the tour. That is one great argument, but think about Angel Yin at the Solheim Cup.

Yin arrived at the tournament after two months of break following a battle with an undisclosed stomach issue. She earned 0.5 at the biennial tournament. Surely, Team USA hopes to avoid a similar mistake, especially after three back-to-back defeats faced by different American teams since Bethpage? As a captain, Snedeker, who has asked Spaun and others to make him look “stupid,” understands that.

Of course, you could say Snedeker looked like he wanted to avoid the conversation of leaving out certain players altogether, especially after witnessing Spaun add his name next to Arnold Palmer and Billy Horschel as the only American winners of the BMW PGA Championship. But the drama refuses to die down.

“The hardest thing you ever have to do is pick 12 guys. We’re very fortunate on the U.S. side to have 16, 17, 18 guys that are worthy of being on this team, and there’s always gonna be guys that are gonna be left off,” he said.

However, when pressed on whether Spaun’s injury specifically influenced the decision, Snedeker said, “I’m not going to get into specifics why X player or Y player didn’t make it,” he said. However, whatever he said during the 45-second call must have hurt the American pro.

Spaun had believed his chances of making the team were “pretty good.” He also said his talks with Snedeker had been positive until then. So, when he arrived at Wentworth, he clearly had something to prove.

“I played with a huge chip on my shoulder… Being left off the Presidents Cup team a couple weeks ago was very disappointing, and I wanted to prove that I deserve to be on that team. I took care of my business this week. So all the best to the team next week at Medinah, and I’ll be watching,” he admitted after winning.

Spaun and Snedeker have not spoken since that decision. Spaun has played for the U.S. at the 2025 Ryder Cup. He went 2-1-0 in his three matches. Interestingly, Snedeker backed Spaun as one of the picks for the Ryder Cup next season. Still, he used four of his six captain’s picks on players who finished below Spaun in the standings. Ben Griffin, who finished eighth, was also left off the team.

Former PGA Tour winner Smylie Kaufman, speaking on The Smylie Show, said he personally wanted Spaun on the team, but understood why the decision went the way it did. Kaufman considered Spaun a safe pick before the injury, citing his points standing. He also noted that Spaun did not get many opportunities at the Ryder Cup, though not because he played poorly.

Kaufman also believes Koivun would still have made the team even if Spaun had been fit and received a pick. In his view, it was Jacob Bridgeman, not Koivun, who would have missed out had Spaun been healthy.

On the broader picture, Kaufman said, “We’re going to find out if it’s going to matter or not, because the depth of the United States team, even the guys that miss, the guys that we’re talking about, when you look at the back half of the lineup for the International team, those six to 12 guys have to step up in such a big way.”

Snedeker called Koivun “a generational player” after playing a practice round with him at the Wyndham Championship. “You look at every metric you want to look at,” Snedeker said. “To do what he did in college, to do what he’s done as a professional, this kid’s really special.”

In his official statement, Snedeker said: “It’s rare to see a player this young demonstrate the level of poise and confidence that Jackson has, even before turning professional. He’s already proven he can win on the biggest stage in golf on the PGA Tour, and I’m excited to watch him perform in his first team event.”

Snedeker said of Bridgeman, “What impressed me most wasn’t just his win at the Genesis Invitational but the way he continued to perform after that breakthrough.”

Bridgeman has been one of the more consistent players on Tour in 2026. He has 12 top-25 finishes in 24 starts and has missed only one cut. He also ranks first on Tour in strokes gained: putting. On the same day Spaun won at Wentworth, Bridgeman shot a final-round 61 to win the Biltmore Championship Asheville by two shots. It was his second win of the year. Koivun also finished tied for fifth at the event.

So, Snedeker’s two most questioned picks arrived at Medinah with strong results behind them. But Spaun’s win at Wentworth has made sure the debate is not going away anytime soon.