LIKE the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup was conceived with nothing but the best of intentions. Unfortunately, just like the biennial clash between Great Britain and Ireland and the United States, the scrap between the US and an International team hasn’t quite worked out as it was planned.
In 22 matches between the original Ryder Cup teams, GB&I won just three (and two of those were in the first four editions). It was a hapless mismatch and initially wasn’t much improved when Europe joined in, but there have now been exactly 22 Europe/USA tangles and Europe lead the count at 12-9 so the change has worked in terms of making it more competitive.
As it currently stands, the Presidents Cup badly needs resuscitation, possibly via a tweak of its own, because there have been 14 matches with one International win, one tie and 12 wins for the Americans. It’s actually even worse than that because the United States team has won the last nine and only ever realistically looked like losing one of those. In the 2017 match the Americans even led by a dispiriting 11 points heading into the singles. If the Ryder Cup is now a contest played on a knife edge, the Presidents Cup is as bouncy as a football that’s had a knife plunged into it.
Many believe there should indeed be a twist to the format. It’s often suggested that the inclusion of the world’s finest women would serve two purposes. On the one hand, it would be a terrific advert for the entire game and, on the other, it would even up the availability of playing resources to the two captains. For what it’s worth, if you took the six automatic qualifiers for this year’s two teams and added the top dozen women eligible in the world rankings the line-ups would be:
Team USA: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala, Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Rose Zhang, Lauren Coughlin, Ally Ewing, Megan Khang.
The Internationals: Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day, Byeong-Hun An, Lydia Ko, Ruoning Yin, Jin Young Ko, Amy Yang, Hannah Green, Ayaka Furue.
That looks like a tight one to call and the combined event is a nice idea but there is a rather straightforward problem regarding the practicalities in that it would clash with the Solheim Cup. Not absolutely, but would America’s top women be able to peak for two testing weeks inside a month? The chances are that one or other event would suffer. Another idea is for the PGA Tour to take on LIV, but for as much as this would have a natural and delicious rivalry in theory, it’s also pure pie in the sky. Not to mention the fact that it would be quite toxic and unpleasant. So we’re probably stuck with the current format and the hope that it takes the Presidents Cup less than half a century to become genuinely competitive.
Is there any hope of this week’s match trumping recent history? It would need something special but it could happen. Jim Furyk is the American captain and he was in charge when a strong US team failed to win the Ryder Cup in Paris. Last week, during an interview with Golfweek’s Adam Schupack, the journalist suggested that defeat for the Americans might benefit the Cup. “Really? You’re American,” Furyk snapped back. “I do actually take offence at that. I don’t hate you but it’s a pretty sh-tty thing to say. It’s not like I’m killing you right now, but f–k you. Go f–k yourself. You can quote me on that.” The Internationals will have to hope they can make a bold start, they they can heap pressure on Furyk, and that his passion turns into stress.
They will also hope that their own captain, Mike Weir, plays a strong role. He’s on home soil and not only had a superb playing record in the Cup, he also stood tall in the 2007 match that was also held at Royal Montreal. He top scored that week and, even more impressively, took down Tiger Woods in the Sunday singles. It’s also true that the only International win came when the team had a captain leading at home (Peter Thomson in Australia) and it was the same situation when the match ended in a tie (Gary Player in South Africa).
If Furyk gets twitchy, if Weir plays a blinder, if the Canadian fans rock the joint, if the International team revives the spirit of 2019 (when they held the lead until Saturday night) and if Montreal’s pigs fly, we might see some fun this week. It’s what everyone want, but what you wish for doesn’t always come true.
International Top Scorer – Tom Kim
Back in 2022 at Quail Hollow the International team was floundering after two days. They trailed 8-2 but then mounted a fight-back on Saturday and star of the show was South Korea’s Tom Kim who won two points in those two sessions and became a firm favourite of his team mates, the galleries and TV viewers around the world. By the end of the week he’d only won two of five points but he can build on that and the tight course should play to his tee-to-green strengths.
Overall Top Scorer – Xander Schauffele
On debut in the 2019 Presidents Cup, Xander Schauffele lost his Thursday foursomes match alongside his good friend Patrick Cantlay. But he then won three points in the next four sessions. In the 2022 renewal he claimed three of four points, again playing exclusively with Cantlay. On his Ryder Cup debut in 2021 he repeated that record before suffering a downturn in Rome last year. Now the world number two and a two-major champion he can return to winning ways and lead the US charge.
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