News
Team USA holds off International squad for Presidents Cup victory
It was never going to be a Presidents Cup like all the rest, for so many reasons. It wasn’t Tom Weiskopf, skipping the Ryder Cup to go fishing, but the losses of Day and Koepka put the first damper on the teams that were initially selected. It wasn’t high treason, but Patrick Reed’s indefensible actions in the Bahamas were certain to galvanize support for the opposing squad. It wasn’t the MMA octagon, but the shoving of a spectator by a caddie served only to intensify matters. And those are the negatives!
The positive side includes the best golf course we’ve seen in decades, hosting a professional, international team event. Until now, only the Walker Cup venues were in the league of Royal Melbourne, in terms of design and conditioning. A player-captain, only the second in PrezCup history, and a legend at that, won all three of his matches and led his team to victory. Young players arrived on the scene, untested in international team competition; some became larger than life, while others shrunk from the glare of the sun. In the end, a 2-point differential, with more match swings that fit on our fingers and toes. The perfect end to the twenty-teens, the perfect event at the perfect time. Let’s wrap up the 2019 Presidents Cup, just in time for the holidays.
Ground control to Captain Tiger
Tiger finally got out of Tiger’s way in an international event. This thoughtful Woods was different than any we’ve seen in previous Ryder and Presidents Cups. Returned to proper mental, emotional and physical states, he carried this 2019 team on his rhomboids. Before a day-one shutout became a certainty, he lifted Justin Thomas to new heights, winning the day’s only USA point. When Friday looked to be another wound-licker for the USA contingent, Woods and Thomas once again pulled a point from the upside-down. Despite taking Saturday off, Woods’ shots were replaced by his wisdom. He rallied his lineup to 4.5 points of 8, trending in the direction needed for Sunday singles. Saving his most graceful for day four, Woods led Team America into the fray and never trailed in his 3 & 2 win over hot-handed Abraham Ancer. Forget the former holder of the nickname: there is only one Captain America. For all his flaws and his qualities, for his return from the depths of suffering, for his dedication to his craft, Captain America is, once again, Tiger Woods.
Ernie’s mistake
Quick thought: who would you say were the five strongest golfers this week for the International Team? I would have said Ancer, Sungjae Im, Cameron Smith, Louis Oosthuizen, and Hideki Matsuyama. And I would have led off with those five golfers, not the likes of C.T. Pan, Haotong Li, and Adam Hadwin. Els needed to get black flags on the board as soon as possible, and they failed. If your best can’t get it done early, your worst won’t later. Option two: put your veterans out first. Get Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen out in the first three matches. Let them carry their banner into the fracas, a position they’d earned. The brain trust of Team International, so strong in the pairings for three days, did an about-face on Sunday. It either abandoned the metrics that had carried them to the lead, or trusted a flawed algorithm when logic and history were paramount.
Flaws in the system
Team events will always be flawed in their conduct. To begin, the qualifiers who’ve lost their mojo. Golfers like Bryson DeChambeau, C.T. Pan, Haotong Li, and Matt Kuchar, and even Webb Simpson. Fellows who earned their points early on, but failed to show up for matches. There are ways of playing extremely well, yet losing to a hot hand. That was not the case for this quintet. Whatever collision of skill and fate that brought them to these heights, had abandoned them weeks and months before they stepped onto the first tee. Next come the captain’s picks. Until Sunday, not Reed, nor Niemann, nor Hadwin, had done a darned thing to help their squads. Their play was so weak, that their leaders were forced to brace against them. The exceptions were Woods himself, and Fowler, the latter having accrued 2 points in 3 appearances. This was as much a surprise as the failings of the other, aforementioned picks.
The enigma of foursomes
What is it about head-to-head play, that governs all professional, international team play? Is it tradition? Fine. Is it the notion of mano a mano and lining up against a solitary opponent? Okay. Is it the divergence from the norm of 18 holes of stroke play? Acceptable. Fourball is a known commodity. Golfers who succeed at medal play, are likely to play well in fourball matches. Ignore your partner if you must, and play your own game. When it comes to foursomes, there is a misnomer about USA players lacking the temperament, and generosity of spirit, to succeed. For some other reason, players from outside the gilded kingdom, are automatically granted these two traits, which therein give them an advantage in alternate-shot competition. In 2019, team USA won 5.5 of 8 foursomes points. If the ROW squad had merely halved those matches, they would have been 1.5 points closer to victory. Truth is, no one knows what makes a proper foursomes partnership. Is it the best way to identify the proper champion? No. Is it a magically-archaic, outdated anachronism, wreaking havoc on a modern world and its golf? 100 percent. For those reasons, it should always be a part of these matches. It represents the unknown.
Replace singles
Bold statement, I know. Remember, this is a team event, and the emphasis is on team play. I’m not suggesting scramble golf; that’s for the silly season. Probably would take these guys 6 hours per match, with the selection of whose shot, how to play it, where to place it, ad infinitum and nauseum. How about alternate-alternate shot, or sixsomes? Player A drives, player B approaches, player C putts for one team. On the next hole, they shift one slot, then again on the third hole. No? Consider quick-six, where each six holes is worth something, with the three segments determining the winner of the point. Adds a sense of urgency to one of the sessions. It sticks in my craw that sides can establish a proper lead in team play, only to see it vanish upon the abandonment of the essence of the competition.
Comeback kids
Speaking of singles, there were some freakishly-inexplicable comebacks on Sunday. Begin with Tony Finau against Hideki Matsuyama. 4 down on the 11th tee, the pride of Utah somehow won five of the next eight holes to square his match. Only a half point loss for the ROW, but Matsuyama had this one in the bag, and let his mates down, big time. Next would be Patrick Reed. What’s that you say? The guy who one five of his first six holes, with four birdies, against an outclassed Pan, was a comeback kid? Sure thing. You know why. It was a comeback from all the things that had gone wrong over the last fortnight. In truth, Reed deserved to do a Fortnite celebration dance, after his Sunday performance. The maligned Matt Kuchar fashioned a comeback of his own, against Louis Oosthuizen. Koooootch stood 3-down with nine to go, and strode to the 18th tee with a 1-up lead. Sure, he gassed a bogey there, to fall back into a tie, but controlling his own destiny for once, was a big step for the Georgian. As bitter as comebacks are for those who give up leads, they are equally-fulfilling for those who return from the dead.
The golf course
After any time at all in golf, folks talk about the Augusta Influence that drives golf course superintendents to desperation. Ignorant members demand that their courses look and play like The National does … for two weeks of the year. With luck, those members will demand that their courses look and play like Royal Melbourne, instead. No need to saturate fairways and putting surfaces with wasted water. No call to preserve a green hue unknown to Mother Nature. No need to avoid the natural bounce, the intuitive carom, the unpredictable roll, the unsettling roil caused by firm, uneven turf. Golf is infinitely more interesting when unpredictable. Its courses are why we play the game until the moment we depart, boots up, toward the next life. Stop humanizing it, for goodness sake!
Closing thoughts
I’m not looking forward to next year’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, nor the 2021 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow. I have no anticipation that Wisconsin in late September will be at all firm, just as I know that piedmont North Carolina will be equally wet and soft, in September of the following year. I’m hoping for a dry red in 2022, at Marco Simone outside Rome, just as I hope that the yet-to-be-selected site of the 2023 PrezCup matches will be something special. American golf is treelined, windless, blah, even when played on a faux-links like Whistling Straits.
I hope that future captains resist the temptation to select members of their little clubs, their inner circles. Give someone like Kevin Kisner or Kevin Na an experience on a national team. Your win-at-all-costs, keep-it-in-the-family approaches are simply not what the human experience need be, all the time. Imagine an aging Kisner, a septegenarian Na, recalling the time when he was a captain’s pick for a USA squadron. Not Fowler, nor Reed.
Give us prime-time golf from around the globe. Give us venues as magical as those seen on the Wonderful World of Golf, decades ago. These form the inspiration for generations of young golfers; they always have and always will. Knowing that golf will transport you to another continent, another language, another playing surface, is more than any other sport or game can offer. We are a fortunate lot.
- LIKE33
- LEGIT4
- WOW4
- LOL3
- IDHT0
- FLOP5
- OB3
- SHANK28
News
Morning 9: Rory: I’m not joining LIV | Masters ratings | Nelly: We just need a stage
|
- LIKE1
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT1
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.
We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.
We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.
Check out links to all our photos, below.
General Albums
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #2
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Justin Thomas – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Rose – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Nick Dunlap – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Thomas Detry – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Austin Eckroat – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Jason Day – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Will Zalatoris – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Patrick Cantlay – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Ludvig Aberg – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Collin Morikawa – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Stephen Jaeger – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
Pullout Albums
- Wyndham Clark’s Odyssey putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- JT’s new Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Thomas testing new Titleist 2 wood – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey putter with triple track alignment aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Scotty Cameron The Blk Box putting alignment aid/training aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey Ai One Eleven T putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Christian Bezuidenhout – testing new Callaway Ti 340 mini driver – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele testing the Callaway Ti 340 mini driver & the DUW – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Byeong Hun An, two new L.A.B. Golf putter builds with “T” alignment – 2024 RBC Heritage
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
- LIKE9
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL2
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB0
- SHANK0
News
Morning 9: Aberg: I want to be No. 1 | Rory’s management blasts ‘fake news’ reports
|
- LIKE1
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Things got heated at the Houston Open between Tony Finau and Alejandro Tosti. Here’s why
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Tiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Report: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole5 days ago
Two star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
-
19th Hole4 days ago
Neal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
-
19th Hole3 days ago
Report: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Addiction, spinal fusion, and scam artists – Everything Anthony Kim revealed in candid interview with David Feherty
Dyson Bochambeau
Dec 16, 2019 at 8:39 am
The International team should have selected Greg Norman instead of Nieman. They needed his veteran presence and course knowledge.
Ronald Montesano
Dec 16, 2019 at 9:25 am
Thank you for writing.
Interesting thought. Too veteran? Busy with business interests?
Terry
Dec 15, 2019 at 10:49 pm
Would have liked to have seen an int’l victory for a change. Not a fan of kucher thomas reed dechambeau woodland. Better luck next time
Ronald Montesano
Dec 16, 2019 at 9:26 am
Thank you for writing.
It was looking so good, for so long, for the International side. As an American, I’d like to see our men follow the lead of our lady professionals, and all of our amateurs, and represent better.
James
Dec 15, 2019 at 2:07 pm
In loudmouth news of Sunday singles:
Patrick Reed 4&3 over Cameron Smith
Patrick Reed 5&4 over Adam Scott
Lesson: Don’t talk sh*t until after the prize is decided.
Ronald Montesano
Dec 16, 2019 at 9:27 am
Thank you for writing.
Could you elaborate? These seem like made-up numbers. Reed defeated C.T. Pan this year, not Smith and not Scott.
CrashTestDummy
Dec 15, 2019 at 1:52 pm
Bottom line is that the US team played better. I don’t believe there is that much strategy in the pairings and lineup that would have change the outcomes.
I disagree that it was Ernie’s mistake. Not a fan of putting the rookies as the anchors to perhaps forced to win crucial points. Too much pressure on them if they have to win their point. The veterans are much better to handle those situations. The players will always try to win their match if they are behind or ahead in points. They want a good record.
Ronald Montesano
Dec 16, 2019 at 9:29 am
Thank you for writing.
If there are International leads on the board, when the rookies tee off, it gives them hope. Putting them out there first, increases the pressure, from my vantage point.
N
Dec 15, 2019 at 12:53 pm
You don’t like the courses selected in America? They could go back to Sea Island, or what about Pinehurst?
Niemann was the International’s downfall. If he had even played for a Tie in all his matches the Internationals would have won. Ernie messed up his choice there. Should have been Corey Connors, paired with Hadwin, the Canadians would have been great. But alas.
Yes of course who would’ve thought the Americans would end up dropping bombs and be so clutch in the singles. But hey.
This whole event never needed to be created. Nobody cares.
Ronald Montesano
Dec 16, 2019 at 9:34 am
Thank you for writing.
Lots to cover here. One at a time, here we go.
1. I love the idea of Sea Island. I also like the sandhills of N.C. Give me Pasatiempo in California, or Streamsong in Florida.
2. We agree on Niemann. Too young. Why was he never paired with Ancer, if only to have the comfort of speaking Spanish with your partner?
3. It was obvious that great players existed outside Europe and the USA. Also a money grab. Have a few more matches like 2019, and I will continue to care!
drjacko
Dec 15, 2019 at 11:25 am
They won. the author’s gripes about picks don’t reflect the following:-
Reed needed that time to rehabilitate from the fiasco of the last Ryder cup. Now he can hold his head high and enter the next cycle of selections on the back of a storming singles victory. Tiger has done a solid for any future American captain.
Fowler has more experience at this level than Kisner and Na- especially in pairs format. Feel free to check it yourself. Even at half strength- he was good enough to anchor.
You can call out Ernie’s strategy all you want. It nearly worked, Matsuyama vs Finau Ooisthausen vs Kuchar in real life, Scott vs Schauffele on paper. Against an American team that apparently was fully higher in standings against every International player aside from Scott and Matsuyama- 16-14 was a monumental effort.
T
Dec 15, 2019 at 4:46 pm
Agree to a certain extent.
But Ernie’s choice of Niemann failed him. Niemann did squat the whole week. It should’ve been Corey Connors, and paired with Hadwin, they could’ve been a dynamic Canadian duo, enough to not lose points and that would’ve been enough to win the thing.
So Ernie can only blame himself for the picks and bad pairings.
Next time in the US, the internationals will get pummelled, again, and nobody will care about this even. Again.
Johnny Mike
Dec 15, 2019 at 10:27 am
September is about the only time piedmont VA and NC courses are firm, fast, and baked. There is a kind of 6 week mini-season every year (though this year it was cut short), and September is the surest bet for it.