J.J. Spaun Contends at Wentworth After Presidents Cup Snub

J.J. Spaun sits one shot off the lead entering the final round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, playing the DP World Tour's flagship event in England the same week the U.S. Presidents Cup team he was left off assembles in Chicago.

Why was J.J. Spaun left off the Presidents Cup team?

Spaun finished 10th on the U.S. points list but slumped down the stretch, missing a top-20 finish in his final five regular-season starts before withdrawing from the Tour Championship with an injury. The withdrawal is believed to have weighed on his omission from the roster that faces the International team at Medinah Country Club next week.

Spaun called the decision disappointing and said he did not expect to be left off. He pointed to his Ryder Cup debut last year at Bethpage Black, where he went 2-1-0 and was one of only three Americans to finish the week with a winning record, and to his win earlier this season at the Valero Texas Open. "I was the odd man out," he said.

How is Spaun playing at the BMW PGA Championship?

Spaun is a regular visitor to England; he and his family spend part of each December in the Cotswolds. He sat sixth at the halfway mark before a bogey-free, five-birdie third round moved him to 12 under par, one shot behind co-leaders Manuel Elvira and Filippo Celli heading into Sunday.

He is not the only Presidents Cup snub in contention at Wentworth. Ryan Gerard, also left off the U.S. roster, held the outright lead through 36 holes before a third-round slide dropped him to a tie for 16th.

"I was the odd man out," Spaun said of missing the U.S. Presidents Cup roster.