The 12th edition of the biennial Presidents Cup matches is now in the record books. Team USA defeated the International team by a 19-11 margin in a varied match play format. While a number of the members of the International team played stellar golf during the course of the four days of competition, the core of the American team played brilliant golf.
Five-time PGA Tour winner and three-time Ryder Cupper Johnny Pott, who served as our guest prognosticator several weeks ago, was spot on with his earlier thoughts of a Team USA victory. Pott went so far as to contend that the American captain, Steve Stricker, could have chosen him for the squad and Team USA would still be solidly victorious. Instead, Stricker chose Phil Mickelson, and the old-timer of modern American team golf came through with an unbeaten record. Speaking of Johnny Pott, he and his fellow teammates on the 1967 Ryder Cup team got some great television time on Sunday morning. Had the American team prevailed over the Internationals during Sunday singles by an 8½ to 3½ margin, they would have eclipsed the ’67 Ryder Cup team’s 15 point margin of victory over Great Britain and Ireland at Champions in Houston. Alas, Team USA had next to nothing on the line and the Internationals won the Sunday session 7½ to 4½ to make the margin of defeat somewhat more acceptable. Pott and his teammates, who included Arnold Palmer, Julius Boros, Bobby Nichols and captain Ben Hogan, still have their special place in the record book of team competition.
The 2017 American juggernaut was led by the new breed this time around. Of the nine young golfers on the team, 2016 U.S. Open champ Dustin Johnson is the old-timer at age 31. His new breed teammates were Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner, Patrick Reed, Kevin Chappell, Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler. Their chaperones for the week were 40-somethings Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar and Charlie Hoffman although with all those live-wire personalities, it’s hard to imagine who exactly was the adult in the team room beyond captain Steve Stricker and his assistant coaches.
One of Pott’s contentions prior to the Presidents Cup was that the younger members of Team USA had a great degree of early successes. Couple that with their enormous bank accounts and you get the sense that they were void of real pressure. They could free wheel it, hit the big stick, attack flags and ram in putts with little worry. That was certainly evident as a great golf site, Liberty National, provided us with nothing short of dynamic golf. For a team filled with 24-year-olds who were in high school just seven years ago, this is a truly intriguing development when it comes to the future of American team golf during the course of the next decade. Say what you will about the dynamics of this current group of young stars, there are members of their peer group, including Tour champion Xander Schauleffe, Patrick Cantlay, Smiley Kauffman, Ollie Schniederjans, Bryson DeChambeau and Tom Lovelady, who are chomping at the bit to replace the 40-somethings and start playing team golf for the USA.
While there were a lot of great shotmaking moments throughout the Presidents Cup, my greatest memory of the 2017 matches revolves around the Saturday afternoon press conference that included Dustin Johnson, Kevin Kisner, Jordan Spieth and Daniel Berger. When all was said and done, the presser reminded me more of an afternoon at the college frat house than an informative discussion of the day’s golfing events. When Jordan Spieth was asked about his less than stellar record in singles matches in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, Spieth talked about the possible exhaustion he might feel after playing in the two-man competitions in the earlier rounds. Daniel Berger immediately responded by laughing at Spieth, telling him he was still 24 years old and certainly should have the stamina to play the Sunday morning matches. Kevin Kisner added to the colorful commentary when he called Spieth “a chop.”
As I was watching this grouping of friends poke fun at one another, I realized we were light years away from the chaotic press conference following the 2014 Ryder Cup when the American loss was followed by a seemingly endless round of finger pointing. Yes, the times are changing in the world of professional golf, especially from the American perspective.
Finally, there has been talk of changing the format of the Presidents Cup so that the playing field is more level. After all, we’re 24 years into this and the American record is a decisive 10-1-1. I’m of the opinion that it should remain the way it is. These sort of things run in cycles. After all, I don’t see a whole lot of balance between the NBA’s Eastern Conference and Western Conference. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, NFC teams such as the 49ers, Washington, the Giants and the Cowboys won the vast majority of Super Bowls. In time, it will all balance out and the discussion will go the other way. Right now, the Americans are riding a wave of young, fearless talent. This core group of 20-somethings have been playing in national competitions since they were adolescents. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth were making the cut at PGA Tour events as 16-year-olds. They were playing in the Junior Ryder Cup in Europe and attending the 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales. Their experiences are completely unique when you consider the experiences junior golfers had some 15 years ago, and yet this will be the start of the continuum for the most talented kids in the near future. When you’re making the cut at the Wyndham or the Byron Nelson before you even have time to get your driver’s license, the Amarillo Junior certainly seems like small potatoes. You’re way ahead of the curve.
The next time this colorful group of American golfers play together as a team will be in Paris in September of 2018 for the playing of the Ryder Cup against Team Europe. With the continuing onslaught of the 20-something brigade, we could be at the beginning of a new American world order of dominant play, accumulation of major championships, and continuous victories in team events. We’ll know a whole lot more in the coming years.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour’s new 2017-18 wraparound season already has two rounds in the record books with the playing of the Safeway Open at the North Course at the Silverado Resort in Napa. Thankfully the pros will have far better weather than they had one year ago when the event had continuous rain, especially on Sunday. The world of competitive golf on the PGA Tour starts all over again this week although the world of Spieth, Thomas, Berger, Koepka, Reed, Kisner and the rest certainly seems to be on a never-ending ascent to dominate that world of golf. They are very young, very talented and way too experienced.
