Marc Leishman has urged Ernie Els' International hopefuls to commit to this year's World Cup of Golf in Melbourne to try to gain a priceless advantage over the Americans ahead of the 2019 Presidents Cup.
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The Presidents Cup next year returns to Royal Melbourne, the scene of the Internationals' only triumph since the team event's inception in 1994.
The USA have won the past seven showdowns since a tie in 2003, leaving Els' line-up needing to break a 21-year drought to wrestle back the cup.
Leishman says the International Team should use the experience of November's World Cup of Golf at The Metropolitan to gain an edge over their superstar rivals. They include world No.1 Dustin Johnson and fellow major champions Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Masters winner Patrick Reed.
On current rankings, the International Team would feature Japan's world No.8 Hideki Matsuyama, the 16th-ranked Leishman, fellow Australians Jason Day and Cameron Smith, plus Satoshi Kodaira, South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat and four captain's picks from Els.
"Going to the World Cup would be a priority for most of the guys. I think Ernie would be all for that," Leishman said on Wednesday.
"I feel like you can only get sandbelt experience on the sandbelt.
"Augusta is somewhat similar; the greens, I guess. But the grass is just completely different on the fairways so you can only learn those shots on the sandbelt.
"The good thing with that is we could potentially have six or eight of the guys that are going to be in the team at the World Cup.
"The Americans are only going to have two. I think it would be really beneficial and I'd be for all guys going down there."
The World Cup will include 28 nations, with the top-ranked player from each available country - as at September 3 - to select their partner.
Day is ranked two spots higher than Leishman, who admits it he'd find it tough to decide on a partner out of Day, Smith and world No.68 Adam Scott if they all made themselves available.
"You'd have to go on form, I would think," Leishman said.
"Yes, I'm a numbers guy. You'd probably go for the next in line.
"But if someone's been hot, had a really good (FedEx) playoffs or something, or one of us wins a major, it'd be hard not to choose someone who had won a major that year.
"I don't know how you'd choose it. Hopefully, I'll be worrying about that in a few months' time."
The Americans will be captained by Tiger Woods for the first time at next year's Presidents Cup.
Australian Associated Press
