Can a depleted International Team cause a Presidents Cup upset on American soil? Chris Cox looks at the growth of international players on the PGA Tour and how the contest has become a key event in the golfing calendar; Watch live from September 22-25 on Sky Sports Golf
Thursday 22 September 2022 10:28, UK
To measure the scope of the Presidents Cup, a suggestion is to travel back in time - 28 years, to be exact - when this international team golf tournament was introduced.
It was the brainchild of Tim Finchem, back when he was a deputy for PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman. But when Beman handed the reins over to Finchem early in the summer of 1994, going full throttle on the debut of the Presidents Cup consumed him.
The naysayers were lined up, but Finchem was steadfast in his belief that great players from beyond the borders of America and Europe deserved to compete on a global stage in an international team match. Should you point to the lopsided results - the Americans are 11-1-1 and have won eight in a row - you would be terrible point-misser.
The Presidents Cup was about bringing the game a little closer together because global golf, Finchem insisted, was here to stay. He knew it would be a somewhat awkward fit at first, but he begged for patience and offered a vision that a lot of folks struggled with.
To wit, there would be a day when the world's best players competed in the same tournaments dozens of time per year and American golf fans would know the international stars quite well. If he were the type to seek the limelight, Finchem could take a bow. But instead, let's take a measurement to indicate how his vision has played out beautifully.
In 1994, half the International Team needed to introduce themselves to their American counterparts at the Robert Trent Jones Club in Gainesville, Virginia. Aussie Bradley Hughes had only played in six PGA Tour tournaments that season, while Mark McNulty of Zimbabwe (five), Peter Senior (three) of Australia, and Frank Nobilo (two) attended even fewer. As for Robert Allenby of Australia and Tsukasa Watanabe of Japan, they hadn't played at all.
In all, the 12 International Team members had combined for just 141 PGA Tour tournaments in 1994, which is not an indictment of them whatsoever.
It is a reminder of the era, when global traffic was limited to the world's very elite names and, while the Presidents Cup perhaps appealed back then to those who are intrigued by players they know little about, Finchem was convinced the stature of the competition would grow as American fans became educated about the Aussies and South Africans, the South Americans and the Canadians.
"In 20 years," Finchem told reporters back then, "we can have an event of really premier quality."
Critique Finchem's statement as much as you'd like, there is an argument to be made that he's been proven correct. Three of the past five competitions have been close, with a 16-14 scoreline in Australia in 2019, a one-point match in South Korea in 2015; a closer-than-it-looks 18.5-15.5 decision at Muirfield Village in 2013.
Then there is the familiarity aspect. Whereas 28 years ago the 12-man International Team combined for just 141 PGA Tour starts, in 2021-22 the 12 members of this year's Presidents Cup team totaled 282 starts.
That is a growth of 100 per cent, and the difference can be seen up and down the lineup. Eleven of the 12 members of this year's International Team made 20-plus PGA Tour starts this year, while Tom Kim appeared in 11 events as he eventually earned his card by the end of the season-while seven of them made 25 starts or more.
Budding stars from Chile (Mito Pereira, 27 starts) and South Korea (K.H. Lee, 28) head the list of workhorses, while Lee's fellow countryman - Si Woo Kim - will join him in Charlotte for his second Presidents Cup after a team-leading 29 starts this season.
Corey Conners made his first team after a year of admirable consistency, as did fellow Canadian Taylor Pendirth (21 starts). Aussie Cam Davis (25), South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout (24), Sebastian Muñoz (25) and Hideki Matsuyama (21) also help comprise the roster.
Round out the team with South Korean Sungjae Im, who with "only" 26 starts this season is almost slacking off, and you have an International Team that is getting more and more comfortable in the United States by the week. That, in turn, is why optimism continues to be an International strong suit.
"We're still talking about 18 holes of match play, and we've got to remember anything can happen in an 18-hole match," Adam Scott told reporters earlier this summer. "Momentum plays a big deal in these things. We saw that at the last one. We kind of got up early and we nearly hung on (to win)."
Veteran that he is, Scott would tell you that even as he and his mates have become more comfortable in the United States thanks to a full complement of PGA Tour tournaments, another aspect of this biennial affair continues to make matters difficult. That is, an American team that is constantly deep and consistently young.
How deep? Ten of the 12 players on the United States team are ranked in the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and the only two that aren't - Max Homa and Kevin Kisner - are close to that benchmark.
The team is headlined by world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and has four others in the top 10: Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa.
How young? Two are just 25 years old - Morikawa and Cameron Young - while five others are in their 20s. As for the "old" guard, we're talking about Cantlay aged 30, Max Homa at 31, Tony Finau at 32 and Billy Horschel at 35. That's deep, that's young, and that's one potent group teeing it up next week at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It's an indication that the Americans will likely be heavy favorites to win for a ninth straight time. Then again, being the underdog is news to the Aussies, the South Africans, the Fijians, the Kiwi, the Canadians, the South Americans, the Japanese, and the Koreans.
True, they've not yet come up with an answer to this biennial puzzle, but you'd be doing them a massive disservice if you sold them short. The big picture does them justice as you look at the 2021-22 season: Four of their players - Matsuyama, Im, Lee, and Kim - combined for five wins on the PGA Tour this season.
True, the Americans have bigger numbers, combining for 18 victories this season, but Finchem's vision has played out as he predicted. International players have established global stature thanks to a high level of play on the PGA Tour and that will be prominently displayed in this year's Presidents Cup.
Focus on the individuals who'll make up the two line-ups - not the past results - and you'll likely find 15 of the world's top 20 names. As promised more than 20 years ago, the Presidents Cup has reached a level of premier quality.
Match 1 - 5.05pm BST
Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) and Adam Scott (Australia) vs Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele
Match 2 - 5.17pm BST
Corey Conners (Canada) and Im Sung-jae (South Korea) vs Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas
Match 3 - 5.29pm BST
Tom Kim (South Korea) and K.H. Lee (South Korea) vs Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young
Match 4 - 5.41pm BST
Cam Davis (Australia) and Kim Si-woo (South Korea) vs Sam Burns and Scottie Scheffler
Match 5 - 5.53pm BST
Taylor Pendrith (Canada) and Mito Pereira (Chile) vs Tony Finau and Max Homa (Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto)
Who will win the Presidents Cup? Watch the 2022 contest from September 22-25 live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday September 22 from 5.30pm on Sky Sports Golf.
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