One of the vastly underrated events in sports takes place this weekend as The Presidents Cup returns to the States at Harding Park in San Fran. Good luck finding the coverage on TV as the Thursday and Friday rounds have been moved to the Golf Channel. But, thankfully NBC will have all day coverage on Saturday and Sunday (perfect timing since my Saints are on bye this week!). This event might not have the history or the prestige of the Ryder Cup (and the joy of kicking the crap out of Sergio Garcia and the Euro crowd), but it does have some fantastic team golf and the event is starting to get that special feeling about it slowly but surely. And, as an American, who doesn't love beating up on 5 out of 7 continents, right? And yes, I'm including Antarctica. Let's stop for a drink At The Turn and get to the preview...
The US Team: Captain - Fred Couples
Players - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, Lucas Glover, Hunter Mahan, Justin Leonard, Sean O'Hair
Analysis:
-This is almost the perfect makeup of a team. You have the cool captain (Couples), stars (Mickelson, Woods), the young guns (Kim, Mahan, O'Hair), the match play vets, (Leonard, Furyk), the Major winners (Johnson, Cink, Glover), and the old dudes playing the best golf of their life (Stricker, Perry). It's interesting that some of those guys are paired together for today's opening foursomes round. However, as great as the team looks on paper, their combined record in the Ryder and Presidents Cup is 14 matches below .500. Yikes! Heck, Tiger and Phil both have losing records in the team events. Even though this team has a losing record, the US is 3-0-1 in the last 4 Presidents Cups and is coming off a huge Ryder Cup win last year.
The big discussion in these type events is always "Who can team well with Tiger?" Not to mention that the pressure will be on Woods since the US won last year's Ryder Cup without him. A list of past partners this decade:
-Charles Howell III, David Toms, Jim Furyk (his most prevalent partner the last few years, to mixed results), Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson (disaster), Chris Riley (who?), Davis Love III, Paul Azinger, Mark Calcavecchia, and Notah Begay III.
As you can see, that is about the most random list of American golfers that you could ever compile. However, this year, Fred Couples has found the perfect complement to Tiger in Steve Stricker.
Stricker first of all is playing unbelievable golf (he's 3rd in the world, yes, Steve Stricker, the 3rd best golfer in the world). He's got an icy cool dimension that will play well in the heated team atmosphere, and most importantly he's reliable and a clutch putter, an area where El Tigre has struggled recently. Stricker can go out and make birdies alongside Tiger and help to lift him up with his determination. Stricker's a gamer, pure and simple. (Let the David Eckstein/Fire Joe Morgan crowd have some fun with that one). If they win or lose Thursday, it will be interesting to see if Freddy Couples continues their partnership or gives Tiger a revolving door of partners.
Aside from watching Tiger and Stricker, it'll be interesting to see how the vaunted Kim/Mickelson pairing fairs (with all the fanfare, they were only 1-1-1 last year) as well as how newly minted major winners Cink and Glover perform now that they aren't so much under the radar. Expect solid performances from vets like Perry and Furyk as well. This team is stacked from top to bottom, there's no doubt.
The International Team - Captain Greg Norman
Players - Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Tim Clark, Mike Weir, YE Yang, Robert Allenby, Angel Cabrera, Adam Scott, Camillo Villegas, Ryo Ishikawa
Analysis:
-As big as a Greg Norman fan I am, his Captain's Picks Scott and Ishikawa (above) are huge risks. Scott is playing the worst golf of his career and Ishikawa is a huge Japanese phenom, but might be too green for the spotlight (18 yrs old, 2 cuts made in 6 PGA starts this year). While the US team is perfectly composed, the Int'l team looks as weak as it's been for years on paper. Why, you ask? Simply, because Singh, Els, and Goosen are shadows of their former selves. Those 3 players need to find some of LeRoy Jenkins' famous holy water to get their careers revived. This team only has 6 combined wins this season amongst 4 players, Els, Goosen, and Singh have just one win.
There is a nice mix here similar to the American team, with youngsters, vets, stars, and major winners. However, down the line you have to give the edge in each department to the Americans. 7 members of the team are currently outside of the Top 25 in the world and only 1 is in the Top 10 (Ogilvy at #10). Compare that to 9 Top 25ers and 5 Top 10ers on the US side.
This Int'l team is 4 matches above .500 in Presidents Cup play, but with the form of Weir, Els, Goosen, Singh, and Scott will that track record of success show up in San Francisco? If the World has a chance it needs three things to happen: a good start, veteran leadership, and a rookie standout. Who was the star when the Internationals won their only PC in 1998? Shigeki Maruyama of course! They'll need a 4-1 type week from either Yang, Villegas, or even Ishikawa to have a chance.
5 Things I'd Like To See:
1) A Dramatic Finish - The PC needs a defining moment. The early years in this competition were fantastic, but the drama the past few years hasn't been there. It'd be great to see this go down to the wire on Sunday.
2) YE v Tiger Part II - You have to figure that Tiger is praying he gets another shot at YE Yang after dethroning him in the PGA Championship. YE's the only guy to ever stand up to Tiger and even if they meet early in the week, all eyes will be on this matchup if it comes off.
3) The Crowds - What makes the Ryder Cups great are the roars around the course that are heard nowhere else, not even Augusta. I hope that same passion carries over to the Presidents Cup as well.
4) Chris Evert crazily driving a golf cart onto a green and going after Greg Norman Jerry Springer style. The only thing that could make that situation better would be for Roger Maltbie to play the part of Steve Wilkos.
5) Johnny Miller going one broadcast without using the word choke, talking about himself, or being really annoying. (If you want to play a drinking game, take a shot every time Johnny's match play record or 63 in the US Open comes up... you'll be drunk by noon.)
The Pick: United States 18 Internationals 16
Enjoy the golf amidst all of the football this weekend. We'll be back workin' hard at the grill tomorrow with our Weekly College Football Preview, and don't forget to check out our Top 10 Athletes of the Decade as well, only at RSS.
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