A total mismatch
The conversation began when the two teams were officially announced a few weeks ago. The American team reads like a who’s who of PGA tour professionals. Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed are enough to practically guarantee that the Americans were going to win. The next six don’t make things any easier for the International team. Kevin Chappell, Charley Hoffman, Daniel Berger, Matt Kuchar, Kevin Kisner, and Phil Mickelson round out the rest of the team. Keep in mind that Mickelson would count as the weakest link on that team. How ridiculous does that sound? Expecting the International team to have even a snowball’s chance in hell of winning was optimistic. The International team’s stars are Jason Day (who finally started to find his form during the FedEx Cup), Marc Leishman, and Hideki Matsuyama. Although Matsuyama hadn’t been playing as well as he is capable going into the event. The rest of the team is made up of former stars, and Players that have had some recent success. Si Woo Kim, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Adam Scott, Jhonattan Vegas, Anirban Lahiri, Adam Hadwin, and Emiliano Grillo would serve as the remaining fodder.
Even the most casual fan of Golf would recognize the majority of the American team. The Internationals though, no so much. Over the four days of competition I have watched only a handful of matchups. It’s hard to get excited about watching Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler just obliterate their opponents. I caught a bit of the Four Ball team selections, and couldn’t help but laugh when the Americans announced the pairing of Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka. I mean come on. Pairing Johnson and Koepka together is like saying we don’t just want to beat you. We want to humiliate you off the Tee while doing it.
Even the fans are frustrated
You know that the interest is lacking when even the fans at the actual event get tired of cheering on their team. As the Tournament progressed the crowds got considerably quieter. It became obvious that the American team didn’t require a boost from the fans to grind out a win. The win was practically guaranteed, so why lose your voice cheering loudly. I saw a number of great shots get minimal celebration. The actual Golfers were trying to get the fans involved by pumping their fists, and motioning for the fans to get loud. By Saturday their attempts to get the crowd involved was hopeless. With still a day left to play the Tournament was already decided. The Americans win, yeehaw!
So what’s the point?
It’s a really good question. With the PGA tour being an American heavy organization. It’s expected that the Presidents Cup will continue to be won by the American team every time. To expect something different is truly optimistic. There just isn’t enough competitive Golf being played at the development level in any of the International team countries. The odds of there ever being a large enough number of top level International Players that peak at the right time to truly compete against an American team is slim to none.
That doesn’t mean that we should do away with the Presidents Cup though. For many of the international Players it isn’t about winning the Cup. It’s really about increasing their marketability, and presence on the PGA Tour. This is true for some of the American Players as well. Expect to see a lot more coverage of Players like Kevin Kisner, Adam Hadwin, and Jhonattan Vegas at next year’s PGA tour events. Don’t be surprised if you notice a few more sponsor’s labels on their shirts. Representing your country as a member of the International team can also be seen as a precurser to the Olympics as well. Their number of fans will definitely increase as well. As much as I prefer to have as few people as possible watch me when I’m out Golfing. It can be the opposite for Players on tour. It can be intimidating for a Player to be paired up on the final day of a PGA event when it feels like everyone watching is cheering for the other guy. The more fans you have, the less likely you are to feel that way.
So it might be a heavily one-sided affair. I definitely didn’t enjoy watching the little bits of it that I managed to watch. I was happy that our Canadian representative Adam Hadwin earned a draw with Hideki Matsuyama as his partner against Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed. That’s no easy feat. Kevin Kisner will probably start being treated like the star that he is after this. The end of the Presidents Cup means the end of another Season. This Season was a great one, with new stars emerging, new rivalries beginning, and a true battle at the top for Golf supremacy.
I can’t wait for next season!
2 replies on “The Presidents Cup – Starting from Scratch SS-20”
I would like to see the men’s side do something like the women do with international crown. Teams of 4 players from various countries competing in different formats such as 4 ball, alternate shot and singles matches. I think the divide between the teams would be a lot closer as I think there is a handful of countries that could field a team of 4 that could compete with the American men’s team which would be favored I think in any golf event. This type of event would be more competitive and interesting to watch, at least that’s what I think.
At this point, almost any change to the President’s Cup would be appreciated. As one-sided as it’s become, fans of the sport are losing interest. A change of format would benefit everyone. It would also place a far greater importance on each Player’s final ranking.