Medinah (United States) (AFP) – United States golfers will try to stretch their win streak to 11 while the Internationals seek their first victory since 1988 when the 16th Presidents Cup begins Thursday at Medinah. The Americans own a 13-1-1 edge over their non-European global rivals in a biennial series that has failed to produce the drama and tension of the US-Europe Ryder Cup rivalry. The Internationals’ lone triumph came 28 years ago at Australia’s Royal Melbourne with a 2003 draw in South Africa their only other bright spot.
The global squad will try to pull off a “Miracle at Medinah” in the footsteps of Europe’s 2012 Ryder Cup fightback from 10-6 down with eight wins and a draw in singles for a 14.5-13.5 victory at the suburban Chicago layout. But they will not be drawing much inspiration from that comeback. “We really just focus on what we’re doing,” said Internationals captain Geoff Ogilvy of Australia. “The boys are excited. We all have memories, pretty vivid memories, of watching that Sunday at that Ryder Cup, just as an interested observer. We take our own inspirations from our own sort of stuff.”
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US captain Brandt Snedeker, who won his 10th PGA Tour title in May at Myrtle Beach, had no clue why the Americans could dominate the Presidents Cup yet lose nine of the past 12 Ryder Cups. “Trying to figure out the secret sauce, if you will, of why the success has been this way is the hardest question we’re trying to answer,” Snedeker said. “The makeup of every team is different. The bonding in every team is different. So trying to navigate that is really difficult.”
Americans boast eight of the top 11 players in the world rankings with world number one Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa and Russell Henley plus captain’s picks Chris Gotterup and Xander Schauffele. Other US captain’s picks include Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and rookies Jacob Bridgeman, a winner last week at Biltmore, and Jackson Koivun, a 21-year-old who won the 3M Open in July in only his third professional start.
Scheffler is only 3-5-1 in prior Presidents Cup appearances but Snedeker is not worried about the reigning PGA FedEx Cup champion. “Scottie Scheffler being Scottie Scheffler is the most important thing for us as a team. We can’t ask him to do more than he can do,” Snedeker said. “He can only deliver five points at his best, if he goes out and plays unbelievable. We just want Scottie to go out there, be comfortable, have fun and be the Scottie Scheffler he is every week. I don’t want him to take a burden on. He’s not going to win or lose us this Presidents Cup. The Presidents Cup is won or lost by 12 people.”
Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion, helped in a redesign of Medinah, which reopened in 2024 and could play soft this week due to rain. “From an architecture standpoint, I would love to see it play firm. We built it to play firm,” he said. “To see some things played out exactly as we thought, and then other things it has…just been fun to watch them play it.”
– ‘Time is right’ –
South Korean Kim Si-woo is the top-ranked Internationals golfer at 13th followed by New Zealand rookie Ryan Fox at 24th. Other veterans include Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, South Korean Tom Kim and Australians Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott, who makes his 12th Presidents Cup start still seeking his first victory. Ogilvy’s captain’s choices included three rookies — Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune, Canada’s Nick Taylor and Colombian Nico Echavarria — plus Canada’s Corey Conners, South Korean Im Sung-jae and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
“The spirit of this group is really strong. I think we’re more together than we’ve ever been,” Ogilvy said. “I think the time is right. The boys know we’re close. They want to win this.”
© 2024 AFP
