Another Presidents Cup Is Nice, But Can the U.S. Now Win a Road Ryder Cup?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After another Presidents Cup victory, the United States will now turn its team focus to Italy, specifically Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome a year from now.
There, the U.S. will attempt to win a road Ryder Cup for the first time in ... forever.
The last time it happened, Raymond Floyd – now 80 – captured a crucial Sunday singles match against Jose Maria Olazabal, 2-up, helping the Americans overcome a one-point deficit to start the day and win 15-13.
Other members of the U.S. team were Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Payne Stewart, Paul Azinger, John Cook, Tom Kite and Lanny Wadkins.
Floyd, 51 at the time, had the unique experience of playing in a second Ryder Cup after being a captain in 1989, when the Americans forged a tie with Europe.
It was so long ago that Phil Mickelson was in his second year as a pro and Tiger Woods had yet to win the first of his three U.S. Amateurs.
The year was 1993, the venue was The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield, England, and captain Tom Watson had but one unofficial assistant—his coach, Stan Thirsk.
Much has changed since then, including captains having an entourage of assistants.
One thing hasn’t—the U.S. has failed to win a single Ryder Cup overseas.
From Valderrama to The Belfry to The K-Club to Celtic Manor to Gleneagles and to Le Golf National, there has been plenty of heartbreak and little joy for American golfers. Two were extremely close—Spain in 1997 and Wales in 2010—there was at least some intrigue heading to the final hours in England in 2002. Ireland in 2006 was a disaster (tying the worst-ever U.S. loss) and France in 2018 wasn’t much better.
Now it’s Zach Johnson’s turn to try and change the course of American Ryder Cup history.
A five-time Ryder Cup participant who won the 2007 Masters and the 2015 British Open, Johnson, 46, has served recent apprenticeships under Jim Furyk at the Ryder Cup in France, Tiger Woods at the Presidents Cup in Australia, Steve Stricker at the Ryder Cup in Wisconsin and Love at last week's Presidents Cup in North Carolina. He’s also one of the few players of his era to have a winning record, 8-6-2.
You could not ask for more experience in being around the tournament. And he was soaking it all in at Quail Hollow.
“Every day,’’ Johnson said. “It could be as subtlest nuance, the subtlest thing that over time could be a pretty big deal. I’m not suggesting I’m writing everything down. But I’m taking mental notes. And I’m learning on the golf course watching these kids. The whole process of this is a learning experience. There are differences just because the way things are constructed. But I’m definitely learning.’’
Next year, the construction of Johnson’s team will be slightly different. Because the format is condensed into three days rather than four, and because four players sit out each double session on Friday and Saturday, there are more decisions to make.
But Johnson already seems to have two easy ones: the teams of Jordan Spieth/Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay.
Spieth and Thomas went 4-0 at Quail Hollow and also played two matches together at Whistling Straits. Schauffele and Cantlay have been a team since Melbourne and have excelled at foursomes. They went 2-1 at Quail Hollow.
That’s a lot of firepower and—assuming everyone’s game is in shape—a simple call for Johnson. He’s got two of his four teams all but decided for each session.
“I do think you can call that a luxury,’’ he said. “I’m not going to say that it’s that overwhelming of a luxury. The thing about it is they (all) want to play with each other. They feed off each other. They understand each other. I just appreciate how they go about their work.
“The beauty of what we have is we’re putting other teams together. Some of these guys outside of those four are going to play on multiple teams going forward. Or are going to be in my position. And I’m not even talking about JT, Jordan, X, Cantlay. There will be guys on this team having one day having to make these difficult decisions.’’
Then he’s got some other fairly easy choices. Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns did not produce on the scoreboard at Quail Hollow, but their play was better than their results. Tony Finau is now a veteran of these cups, and he had two successful partnerships with Max Homa. He might also pair nicely with Collin Morikawa, who somewhat surprisingly played in just two of the four team matches.
Cam Young showed promise as a long hitter who can cause problems in four-ball. Homa went 4-0 in his Cup debut. And Will Zalatoris did not compete due to injury. Undoubtedly there will be some players who emerge in 2023 as well to make captain’s picks difficult.
Only three players in Charlotte were part of the losing effort in Paris—Thomas, Spieth and Finau. All had winning records. The other nine combined to go 7-23-1.
The beauty of that is Thomas, Spieth and Finau can be expected to be among the Americans’ top players. And nobody else has dealt with losing an overseas Ryder Cup.
The U.S., which defeated Europe 19-9 last year at Whistling Straits, will undoubtedly go in a favorite. Not that it has ever mattered. “We lose three Ryder Cups in a row, and we’re still the favorites,’’ Love said.
Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and perhaps a resurgent Francesco Molinari in his home country will give Europe a solid core of players. A friendly golf course meant to hinder the Americans will also be part of the challenge.
It is now Johnson’s turn to see if he can help get the Americans their first road victory in 30 years—since 1993.
“It's a tall task to ask, going over there,’’ Spieth said. “I mean, I've played in a couple of away games now, and they're very different. I'd take this team over there against anybody in the world.
“I think that winning at home is special in its own way, and there's nothing that beats it. But going over there on the road and winning would be incredibly special next year, and I really hope I'm a part of the team. And the kind of team rooms that I've mentioned that we've had the last few years, it's going to stay that way, and I'm very confident in our ability to go over there and win.’’
Freddy for Rome
Johnson will be the next U.S. captain, but who will be his assistants? And who will be put into those roles as best to prepare them for the possibility of a future captaincy?
The way the USA system works, basically, is that once you are a captain, you stay on as an assistant through the next two competitions. That would suggest that Steve Stricker—captain of the 2021 Ryder Cup team and an assistant in Charlotte, will be part of the crew in Rome.
Love has now been a captain three times and he was an assistant last year at the Ryder Cup and in 2018. He’s likely got a spot if he wants it, but it is possible he steps aside for new blood.
Webb Simpson filled that role at the Presidents Cup, but he’s only 37, still a viable player, and will undoubtedly want to try and make the team. Tiger Woods would be a perfect solution, seeing as he will be a future Ryder Cup captain, was a winning Presidents Cup captain, has assisted at two previous Cups, and has been a big player behind the scenes. But his presence seems very much up in the air, although he will undoubtedly contribute again.
Fred Couples seems a no-brainer, despite being 62 and not much of a part of the PGA Tour these days. Couples is extremely popular in the team room and an excellent sounding board. Couples captained three winning Presidents Cup teams in 2009, 2011 and 2013. He was an assistant at Medinah for the Ryder Cup in 2012 and later lamented not being more vocal going into the final day.
He was an assistant for Woods in Australia in 2019, for Stricker last year and for Love this year. He has seemingly settled into an elder statement role whose words are important.
“That’s not my decision,’’ Couples said when asked about it Sunday night. “You’ll have to ask Zach about that.’’
Asked if wanted to be there, Couples said, “You bet, I’ll do what they want. It’s all good.’’
Seems simple enough.
Now Johnson also needs to look for some players who could be the future of Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup captaincies.
Strong Words
Trevor Immelman deserves credit for an amazingly upbeat attitude and good disposition throughout what has been a tumultuous time for him as International captain. He was the obvious choice to replace Ernie Els after the team nearly pulled off an upset in Australia in 2019 and did all he could to continue the momentum through the pandemic into this year.
Obviously, getting hit with the loss of several prominent players due to LIV Golf—notably Cam Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen was a huge blow. Who knows how things might have been different with those players?
It took until Sunday night for Immelman to push back against the narrative that his team had no chance.
“When you consider that we were 8-2 down on Friday evening, this team is no joke, and I’m sick and tired of being spoken of as a joke,’’ he said. “We love this event, and we love our team, and we cannot wait to run this back and have another shot.’’
The International team made a nice push back on Saturday and for a time had the Americans nervous on Sunday.
And it was further proof that this event has come a long way since its inception in 1994. Back then, it faced incredible skepticism. There was considerable conjecture that not all of the players would buy in. Lanny Wadkins, the 1995 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, once quipped that the competition would be PGA Tour players competing against a “bunch of guys from Orlando.’’
The competition has been lopsided, but many times it has been quite entertaining. And the fear of not buying in has been largely misplaced. Look at the reactions of Max Homa and Tom Kim to see just how much it means.
While the U.S. has a decision to make about its next Presidents Cup captain, the likely pick for the International team would be Mike Weir. He assisted Immelman this year and the tournament is in his native Canada at Royal Montreal, where he defeated Tiger Woods in singles.
Adam Scott would seem a likely choice for when the Presidents Cup goes back to Australia in 2028.
Fore! Things
1. Despite a tough singles loss to Si Woo Kim, Justin Thomas has emerged as the U.S.’s go-to player in Cup competition. He finished 4-1, teaming with Jordan Spieth to go 4-0. And he’s now 16-5-3 across five Cup competitions that started at the 2017 Presidents Cup.
2. Spieth admitted there was a “monkey’’ on his back concerning singles play. In seven previous combined appearances, he had not won. Last year at the Ryder Cup, he got a tie against Tommy Fleetwood. His singles record is now 1-6-1.
3. It was a tough week for the Canadians. Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners each went 0-4, the only players on either side who failed to earn any points. The 2024 Presidents Cup heads to Canada and Royal Montreal.
4. Sebastian Munoz was probably the most underrated International player, going 2-0-1. Given that, it is a bit of surprise he sat out two sessions.
The Reed Adventures
After missing the cut at the French Open, Patrick Reed was scheduled to play in this week’s Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, the DP World Tour’s pro-am event that includes the Old Course at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
But his name came off the entry list on Monday, meaning this will not be the fifth of seven straight weeks for Reed, who set himself up for some criticism when he said at his first LIV Golf Invitational Series event in Portland that one of his reasons for jumping to the new circuit was the ability to play less.
Reed’s odyssey began at the LIV Golf Boston event. He then traveled to London for the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, where he finished fifth. Then it was off to the LIV Golf Chicago event. Then to Paris for the French Open. This week was supposed to be Scotland. Then to Bangkok and Jeddah for the next two LIV Golf events. It’s still six out of seven weeks.
It’s a lot of travel for a player who said in Portland that one of his reasons for joining LIV Golf was “being the guy whose played 35 events my entire career and basically living through Facetime watching my kids grow up. I wanted to spend more time with my children. I wanted to be a dad.’’
A handful of players used this talking point, and it has proven to be a poor one as they sought to play in tournaments outside of LIV Golf. It has been easy to knock LIV players who have sought to play more on the PGA Tour through a lawsuit and by getting a stay from a court in the U.K. to be able to compete in DP World Tour events.
In Reed’s defense, he will play less. Last year he played 29 times and missed three tournaments with pneumonia. With the LIV schedule, he won’t get to 30 this year. In 2019, he played 32. Next year is when it will become more apparent. With 14 LIV events, four majors, four DP World Tour events (if eligible) and the likelihood of playing the Saudi International and twice on the International Series (as a likely part of his LIV commitment), that’s 25. So he will play less.
Others might as well, but if they play a similar schedule to Reed, they are not much off from where they were prior. Big deal? Not really. But given what a few of them said, they opened themselves up to some easy criticism.
This week, there are 10 players competing who have competed in LIV events, including Talor Gooch, Louis Oosthuizen, Shaun Norris, Jediah Morgan, Richard Bland, Laurie Canter and Branden Grace.
The Masters Countdown
The first round of the Masters is in 192 days, with numerous opportunities to earn an invitation through the end of this year. This week’s Sanderson Farms Championship is the second of nine PGA Tour events this fall that bring an invitation with a victory for those not already qualified.
The final Official World Golf Ranking top 50 at the end of 2022 will also receive invites if not already qualified to play the first major championship of 2023.
There are currently 59 players qualified for the 2023 Masters. They consist of past Masters champions, winners of past PGA Championships, U.S. Opens and British Opens, the finalists for the U.S. Amateur, the winner of the British Amateur, the U.S. Mid Amateur those finished among the top 12 and ties at the 2002 Masters, the top four finishers at the PGA, U.S. Open and British Open, nine PGA Tour winners since the Masters and seven who qualified by making it to the Tour Championship.
Still to be determined are the winners of the Asia Pacific Amateur and the Latin America Amateur along with the final-year top 50 in the world, PGA Tour winners and those who qualify via the top 50 two weeks prior to the Masters.
Social Matters
> The winners at Quail Hollow
> The captain of the party.
> Scottie Scheffler had one of those moments Saturday – a shank.
> Give several members of the International Team credit for being good sports.
Next Up
The second event of the 2022-23 season takes place in Mississippi at the Sanderson Farms Championship, where Sam Burns is the defending champion. The tournament begins Thursday at the Country Club of Jackson.
It has been part of the PGA Tour schedule since 1968 when it was known as the Magnolia Classic. Until 1994, it was played opposite the Masters and was often referred to as the “Mississippi Masters.’’ It has been a fall event in various forms since 2007.