The International Team’s shot at redemption is almost here with the Presidents Cup to get underway at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada on Friday morning (AEST), as Australians Adam Scott, Jason Day and Min Woo Lee try to help end the USA’s dominance in the event.
Scott will make history with a record 11th appearance for the International Team, but the 44-year-old has never lifted the Presidents Cup as he has played in nine straight defeats since debuting in the famous tied 2003 edition in South Africa.
Day returns for the first since 2017 as part of his career resurgence and he will be eager to improve on his underwhelming career record for the Internationals of five wins, 11 losses and four ties in four Presidents Cup appearances to date.
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Lee will make his debut and is sure to cook up some excitement for the Canadian crowd as his efforts in majors throughout his career so far have shown that he has an appetite for the big stage.
They will be up against yet another all-star American team however with five of the top ten players in the Official World Golf Rankings – Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark and Patrick Cantlay – in their line-up.
Where can I watch and when?
Every round of the Presidents Cup will be broadcast live and exclusively on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports from Friday 27 September to Monday 30 September AEST.
The first day’s coverage begins at 2am AEST on Friday 27 September. The second day’s coverage begins at 3am AEST on Saturday 28 September. The third day’s coverage begins at 9pm AEST on Saturday 28 September and the final day’s coverage begins at 2am on Monday 30 September.
Fans will be able to catch a recap of the daily action with a two-hour episode of ‘Live from The Presidents Cup’ which will be broadcast live and exclusively on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports at 8am AEST each day of the tournament.
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What is the format?
Day one: four-ball. Five matches to be played in pairs where the best ball between the pair counts on a hole.
Day two: foursomes. Five matches to be played in pairs in an alternate shot format. One ball is played between the pair, one player tees off and their partner hits the next shot as it alternates. One player tees off on all the odd numbered holes and their partner tees off on all the even numbered holes.
Day three: four-ball and foursomes. Eight matches in total to be played across a monster day with four four-ball matches to be played in the morning followed by four foursomes matches in the afternoon.
Day four: singles. Twelve matches in total where every member of both teams plays as they go head-to-head with an opponent in match play.
What can we expect from the course?
Royal Montreal is set up for wild finishes as the course comes into its own on the back nine with water in play on the final five holes, opportunities for slip ups and thrilling, come from behind victories are plentiful.
The host of the 2007 Presidents Cup and the 2014 Canadian Open is the oldest golf club in North America having been founded in 1873 and it becomes the second international venue to host the Presidents Cup more than once after Royal Melbourne – where the Internationals lone triumph came in 1998.
The 7,279-yard par 70 layout possesses a front nine full of doglegs and narrow greens to test a player’s shot shaping ability before the course tests their mettle on the closing holes.
If matches go to the 18th hole fans can expect dramatic moments to take place like when Tiger Woods pulled his tee shot left into the water in 2007 when he was defeated by Canadian Mike Weir – who is captaining the International Team this time around – in their Sunday singles match.
Throughout the back nine, the positioning of the water dares the trailing player to take it on while encouraging the leader to lay up with an iron but leave themselves a lengthy shot into the green.
Either strategy flirts with danger but the rewards are on offer for the player who successfully pulls off the aggressive approach.
For their approach shots into the green, players face many elevated greens and knowing your yardages will be crucial as while many of Royal Montreal’s greens are narrow, they are spacious which leads to three-putting.
There are two sets of back-to-back holes where matches are expected to turn on both nines.
The 485-yard par-4 third is rated the third hardest hole on the course and it is immediately followed by the most difficult hole – the 501-yard par-4 fourth.
Matches are sure to swing one way if players cannot get their long approach shots right and it will be the case on the 448-yard par 4 15th and the 458-yard par 4 16th too.
Those two holes are rated the second and fourth hardest holes at Royal Montreal and they are sure to be a nerve tester when trying to close out a win.
What are some potential pairings?
The most obvious pairing to lock in Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay playing together for the Americans.
The pair have been inseparable since forming a duo at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne and it would be unlikely that US captain Jim Furyk would split them up as he tries to make amends for losing the Ryder Cup in Paris six years ago when he last led an American team.
Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns are likely to also form a pair as they did in the Ryder Cup loss last year in Rome, but the remainder of the US pairings appear to be somewhat up in the air.
They have four Presidents Cup debutants – Russell Henley, Wyndham Clark, Sahith Theegala and Brian Harman – and despite Harman and Clark featuring in last year’s Ryder Cup loss, they are set to experiment some new combinations.
For the Internationals, the pairings are likely to revolve around putting.
Mike Weir has focused his captain’s picks on players who are brilliant with the flatstick, and his selection leaves him with the chance to ensure that an elite putter is present in every match.
At Quail Hollow, the Internationals gave up 23 strokes to the Americans in Strokes Gained: Putting and to turn that around Weir selected Canadians Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith – who sat in the top ten on the PGA Tour in the statistic last season – along with South African Christian Bezuidenhout who was in the top 20.
Day and Scott were also ranked in the top 30 in Strokes Gained: Putting which means those five are likely to be split amongst the remainder of the team as they bring composure on the greens while the likes of Lee, Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim bring their own flare to ignite the crowd.
The Internationals also have the option of reprising some successful pairs for two years in Scott and Hideki Matsuyama in foursomes as well as Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim in fourball.
Pairing and tee times will be announced later in the week.
Odds (via TAB)
USA $1.35
International $3.40
Tie $15