The 13th edition of the Presidents Cup Team Matches tees it up Thursday at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. Twelve-man teams representing the United States and the Internationals (the rest of the world except for Europe) will compete in fourball (better ball), foursomes (alternate shot) and individual matches over four days Down Under. Team USA has a 10-1-1 overall record in the 25-year history of the matches.
While some pundits might consider these matches to be Ryder Cup Lite, the Presidents Cup is not only a big deal from the International perspective, but it is also a most entertaining break from the usual 72-hole stroke play tournaments that occur on the world’s golf tours. The impetus behind the Presidents Cup in the early 1990s was to provide team matches for those golfers who did not reside in America or Europe. At that time, the Internationals included such golfing greats as Greg Norman, Nick Price, Ernie Els, Ian Baker-Finch, Wayne Grady and Jumbo Ozaki. Say what you will about the inherent lack of success of the Internationals, one must consider that it took the Ryder Cup almost 50 years before it was an even competition with the growth of the European Tour and the Fabulous Five of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam. It’s also a great way to grow the game overseas.
Once again, we have been fortunate to enlist Johnny Pott to provide us with his thoughts and concepts about this year’s matches. Johnny was a five-time winner on the PGA Tour during its golden era of the 1960s. He played on three Ryder Cup teams, his captains were Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan, and he had a 4-0 record during the 1967 Ryder Cup. Pott recently turned 84 and yet he still closely follows golf from his new home overlooking Monterey Bay.
Johnny and I have discussed the nuances of Presidents Cup during the past four weeks. From the very beginning, Pott has considered Team USA to be the favorites in this year’s team matches. Early on he felt “The American Team are overwhelming favorites to win the Presidents Cup. They have more majors, more money and more experience in this type of competition.” However, as time went on, Johnny became a little more cautionary in his prognostications.
Pott’s biggest concern was the lack of recent form by members of the American team. The PGA Tour wrap-around season concluded in late August and many members of the team have used the autumn season to take a break from the game. True, Justin Thomas won a World Golf Championship tourney in China in October and Tiger Woods won the Japan, but they are the exception. Webb Simpson played in some Fall Series tournaments and Patrick Reed competed on the European Tour. Pott stated that he wondered if the USA players are in mid-season form to compete with this young group of Internationals. “The International team is loaded with much talent and will probably be more competitive during what I see is ‘time off’ for the American team,” according to Pott. Perhaps Pott’s toughest thought about the American perspective in this year’s Presidents Cup dealt with the perceived importance of the Presidents Cup. He told me that he “actually wondered how excited or interested our USA golfers are compared to the Ryder Cup?”
Johnny had some interesting thoughts about Tiger Woods and his role as the team captain as well as a member of the 12-man American squad. Woods was named captain almost two years ago. At that time he was struggling to make his golf game relevant once again. Since September of 2018, he has won the Tour Championship, the 2019 Masters, and the 2019 Zozo in Japan. When Pott was on the 1963 Ryder Cup team, Arnold Palmer was not only his playing partner Friday morning, but he also was the team’s captain.
Johnny had an interesting take on the captain and the pairings for better ball and alternate shot. Johnny contended that his caddy, Joe Lacava, could make the pairings. But the role of the captain requires more time to organize the meetings, banquets, speeches, press conferences and dealing with the personalities of his players. Overall, Pott is oppositional to having a playing captain in today’s world of excessive media attention. He felt that Tiger Woods deserves to be a member of the team because of his playing form over the past year, but that it will be way too much for him to handle. Pott feels that “playing both roles will make for an exhausting week for Tiger.” In the end Johnny had probably the most reasonable thought I’ve heard since Tiger appointed himself to the team with a captain’s pick. Pott stated, “He should bow out of the captain’s role and let Freddie take over.” Woods’ assistant captains include the aforementioned Freddie Couples, a three-time winning Presidents Cup captain, alongside the last Presidents Cup captain and next year’s Ryder Cup captain, Steve Stricker, and two-time major champion Zach Johnson. In some ways, Tiger agrees with Pott. He was quoted as saying, “It’s going to be difficult but I always knew I had three amazing assistants. Two guys who have won the Presidents Cup and Zach, who will be a future captain.”
Johnny Pott pointed out the team golf experience when prognosticating these Presidents Cup matches. Tiger has played in eight previous Presidents Cups, Matt Kuchar has four, Dustin Johnson has three, Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed have two, and Justin Thomas played in the last Presidents Cup. Rickie Fowler, who is replacing Brooks Koepka, has competed in two Presidents Cups. On top of that, Johnson, Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Tiger, Xander Schauffele, Simpson and Bryson DeChambeau are all ranked in the top 12 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Adam Scott of Australia is the highest ranked International at No. 15 and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan is 20th. Every member of the American team is ranked within the top 23 in the world. Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa is the third-highest ranking International. He is in 24th place.
The links-styled Royal Melbourne Golf Club, designed almost 100 years ago by Alister Mackenzie, should be a push when it comes to homefield advantage. Pott said, “Both teams’ players play all over the world and they learn to adjust to design and playing conditions.” Yet when all is said and done and the final putt drops in Australia, Johnny Pott believes that “the USA Team will win. However, it won’t be decided until the last matches.” A close set of matches will only enhance the reputation of the Presidents Cup.
The Presidents Cup Matches commence next Thursday although for American viewers it will be seen live on Wednesday evening. Thanks to former three-time winning Ryder Cupper Johnny Pott for his thoughts about this year’s matches.
