Cup runneth under

IS IT not time to discontinue golf ’s Presidents Cup, surely the most meaningless event on the international sporting calendar.

This tournament has only been anywhere near competitive twice in its entire history. How can a collection of international golfers from five different continents be expected to bond together into a motivated team driven to represent some imaginary flag? In the most recent debacle, sandwiched between the final stages of the now completed FedEx Cup, and the still to be completed Race to Dubai, it seemed that a number of the international team members didn’t want to be there. Equally, how can fans be expected to follow the international team with anywhere near the same intensity and partisanship as American fans?

Why not, in Ryder Cup year, introduce two parallel same-format tournaments, one between Africa and Oceana, the other between South America and Asia. Given the sporting passion and rivalry that already exists between both nations, a bi-annual contest effectively between South Africa and Australia, would be as much of a highlight on the sporting calendar as the Ryder Cup is in Europe and the US. Then, on the alternate year currently occupied by the Presidents Cup, the three winning continents from the previous year could contest a triangular World Team Championship. While the winners of this latter event would more often than not be the Ryder Cup winners, there will always be sufficient depth in Australian and South African golf to make them competitive and the event meaningful. Furthermore, it would be interesting over the next 20-30 years to see the further development of golf on the Asian continent, to a point where conceivably it could become, both from a course and playing perspective, the strongest continent in world golf.