Cameron Smith has vowed to brush aside a cruel flaw in the Presidents Cup team selection criteria and blitz his way into the Internationals side.
The 23-year-old Australian bagged a maiden US PGA Tour victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April, but the teams event didn't carry world ranking points.
While the Presidents team is decided by a two-year composition of FedEx Cup points, the Internationals includes the top-10 golfers on the world rankings not eligible for the Ryder Cup.
Opposing captains Steve Stricker (Presidents) and Nick Price (Internationals) will also select two captain's picks for their 12-man teams.
World ranking points for Tour events are calculated from the strength of the field, and Smith could have fetched 46 in New Orleans given Jason Day, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth were among the big guns at TPC Louisiana.
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Brisbane native Smith would have climbed to world No.74 and 17th on the Internationals team standings but, with some lacklustre results since, has sunk to 44th on Price's list.
"It's a bit of a downer that it doesn't count towards anything. A big goal for me this season was to play my first Presidents Cup," Smith told AAP.
"But I'll absolutely give the PGA Championship and the playoffs my best crack to get myself up the standings."
PGA Tour senior vice president Tyler Dennis assured Smith captain Price would take the Zurich Classic into account when deciding his captain's picks, to be announced on September 6.
"There was constant dialogue with Nick ... with two captain's picks, he's aware he has to assess a larger picture which included monitoring the Zurich Classic results," said Dennis.
Geoff Ogilvy, one of Price's assistant captains for the September 26 event in New Jersey, sympathises with countryman Smith.
"It is one of those weird aberrations in the set-up that's not really right," Ogilvy said.
"It'd be hard to award world ranking points for a teams event and you'd also have to completely change how you pick the (Internationals) team.
"If it was an individual event, (Cam) would be right in the mix."
Ironically, Smith's victory with teammate Jonas Blixt featured two rounds of foursomes and four-ball - formats used at the biennial Presidents Cup.
"Clearly, he's good at the format," said Ogilvy.
But 2006 US Open winner and three-time Internationals player Ogilvy urged Smith to fire up and prove himself at US PGA Championship and FedEx Cup playoffs.
"Cam would be a massive addition to the team ... he's proven himself great down the stretch in team events and his brilliant (fourth place) finish in the (2015) US Open, so he's not afraid of big moments," said Ogilvy.
"If he plays well and is marching up the list, he's going to get looked at pretty hard."
