Injury forces Jim Furyk out of Presidents Cup, J.B. Holmes picked as replacement

With less than a week before the Presidents Cup tees off in Korea, the USA roster will be making an unexpected late change. Jim Furyk will not be making the trip to Incheon and captain Jay Haas has named J.B. Holmes as the replacement.

Furyk became questionable for the team match play event last month, when he showed up to the BMW Championship with his wrist wrapped. He withdrew from that mid-September FedExCup event early in his first round after hitting an array of wild shots and wincing in pain. A day later, he saw a specialist in New York and was diagnosed with a bone contusion in his left wrist. Furyk made the trip to Atlanta the following week for the FedExCup finale, but backed out of that event two days before it teed off. The intervening week off made Furyk’s availability for the Presidents Cup even more nebulous, and there was some speculation that he may make the trip over there before deciding he just would not be able to play through it.

But the 45-year-old, 17-time PGA Tour winner ended the drama before the team flew overseas. Haas said earlier this week that a mystery 13th man was waiting in the wings with his team uniform being measured and a plane ticket booked just in case of a last-minute Furyk withdrawal.

Holmes finished just outside the qualifying cutoff after a strong season that featured a win at the Shell Houston Open and two runners-up. The top-10 in the points standings automatically qualify. The 11th, Bill Haas, the son of captain Jay, was a wild-card pick (as well as Phil Mickelson). Holmes was 12th, so his late addition to the team is not without merit. There will be critics who wish Haas would have tabbed an up-and-coming talent like Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas or Billy Horschel, who may be fixtures on these American rosters at the Ryder and Presidents Cups for years to come and could have used the reps.

These picks always ignite debate, and Koepka was the primary snub at the center of this one:

Holmes was a part of that victorious 2008 Ryder Cup team in his native Kentucky, but that’s his only appearance as a pro in either the Ryder or Presidents cups.

Here are your updated rosters for next week’s competition, which the USA team has dominated against the 12 non-European International stars in the Cup’s two-decade history: