US marginal favourites at Presidents Cup

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 The Presidents Cup | Preview | 07 Oct 2009

The Presidents Cup begins this Thursday at the Harding Park Golf Club near San Francisco, an outstanding municipal golfing facility situated between San Francisco University and Lake Mercedes and less than a kilometre from the Pacific Ocean.

The biennial contest between two 12 man sides representing the United States and the World other than Europe, has never reached the heights or passion involved in the Ryder Cup but after 15 years it is now slowly establishing a place of significance in world golf.

The opening day consists of six Foursomes matches followed by six Four-ball matches on Friday, five foursome matches on Saturday morning, five Four-ball matches on Saturday afternoon and twelve singles on Sunday making a total of 34 available points.

The golf course at Harding Park was originally built in 1925 and named then after US President Warren. G. Harding but was substantially upgraded in 2002 by PGA Tour architect Chris Gray. The new look layout opened in 2003 and within two years it was the venue for the American Express Championship in which Tiger Woods defeated John Daly in a playoff in 2005.

This will be the 8th staging of the Presidents Cup but historically the numbers do not stack up well for the Internationals. The Americans have won five of the seven encounters to date and lost only one. That loss came in Melbourne in 1998 where many of the Americans felt completely at sea on the unfamiliar playing surfaces and amongst the heat and the flies of Royal Melbourne.

There was also the memorable tie at the Links at Fancourt in South Africa in 2003 when darkness brought the playoff between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els to a halt but in the main the Americans have dominated and the way things are shaping this year it appears that may again be the case in 2009.

The Americans have been unbeaten in the four occasions the event has been staged on home soil (their other win came in Canada in 2007) and that may well be the factor to again count against the Internationals in 2009.

That two great friends and personalities, Greg Norman and Fred Couples, have been chosen to lead their respective teams into battle provides a little more intrigue. Having such commanding figures of the modern game opposing each other as captains ensures an even greater interest in the outcome and their magnetic, attractive and yet diverse personalities will add significantly to the profile of the event.

Norman has actually played the Presidents Cup on three occasions and Couples on five, both boasting a greater number of wins than losses in their individual playing records in the event so they understand the process and that experience should, in theory, be of great benefit to their respective teams this week.

With both teams finalized on September 8th it is clear that on paper, for whatever that is worth, the US side is by far the stronger. Nine of its players are currently ranked inside the top twenty in world golf while for the Internationals only three can claim such a ranking.

The US side has only two Presidents Cup rookies in 2009, namely Anthony Kim and Sean O’Hair although Kim did play in the successful American Ryder Cup team in 2008. For the Internationals however, Camilo Villegas, Y.E. Yang and Ryo Ishikawa will get their first taste of team golf at this level.

The comparative and current form of the leading players in each side should be of concern to the Internationals. Nearly every one of the Americans with the possible exception of Justin Leonard are either at or very close to their best leading into the event.

The same can’t be said for Internationals. Ogilvy is nowhere near the peak he was earlier in the year when he dominated the early part of the 2009 PGA Tour. Vijay Singh has not been the force he has been in earlier years on the PGA Tour and while not playing badly he is not sharp at present.

Camilo Villegas has begun to play better in recent weeks but is not the same player he was when essentially earning his place in this side via his great finish to 2008. He is on debut as an International Team player.

Two of the three South African’s in the International side, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, could play a key role in the outcome, both with considerable experience in this contest and both playing well enough of late to have very good weeks.

Angel Cabrera has mixed some very good form with mediocrity since his brilliance at Augusta but importantly has won more points than he has lost in the two appearances he has made in this event.

Y.E. Yang’s form since his stunning performance at the PGA Championship has been a mixture although some of that could be put down to a let-down factor. He could still have a very good week.

Mike Weir is not at his best but his form has not been too bad in recent weeks. Importantly for Weir is his great record when representing the Internationals. In 19 matches in four times to the event Weir has accumulated 11 points lost 7 and halved one. His hard fought singles victory in his homeland over Tiger Woods in 2007 was one of the great matches in the history of this event.

How the final four International players, Robert Allenby, Tim Clark, Ryo Ishikawa and Adam Scott stand up could also play a key role in the outcome of the event. Allenby was superb at the Bridgestone event in Ohio when runner up to Tiger Woods but he has not been so impressive since. The Victorian has been a four time participant in this event so will lose nothing in terms of experience.

Tim Clark has played the event twice and has fared well in the Four-ball matchups but has lost both his singles matches. After what had been a good start to the season Clark has struggled in recent months and despite being a gritty type of competitor he could have a battle on his hands.

Ryo Ishikawa has been superb in Japan in 2009 winning his 4th event of the season just last Sunday. He has not played particularly well when he has taken his game to the US however, missing three of five cuts with a best of 56th at the PGA Championship. His success or otherwise this week may well depend on how Greg Norman handles the 18 year old in the early days of the event. He is on his way to an outstanding career in the game but this is a different level to that in which he has been so successful of late.

Adam Scott is certainly the most controversial inclusion in the International Team and although he gave some hope to Norman and others with a better tournament last week in New York, there is little doubt he is under pressure to perform. He will be buoyed by the fact that Norman took the punt on him and does enjoy a reasonable record in the event.

Perhaps the International’s greatest asset will be the combination of Norman and Frank Nobilo as captain and vice captain. Both have played in three Presidents Cup events and with Norman’s charismatic qualities as a leader and Nobilo’s hands on knowledge of the relative merits of the players via his role in television commentary, they should make the decisions necessary to provide the Internationals with their greatest chance.

They will need all the help they can get however as against an inform US side and a likely partisan crowd this is going to be a tough battle.

The Americans to win but perhaps not by the margin some are predicting.