Trevor takes his cue from Ernie
CAPTAIN: AIMS TO BUILD A STRONG TEAM CULTURE
Acensus of the last four International teams to participate in the Presidents Cup shows that anything from six to nine different countries, from three to five continents, have been represented in each edition of the biennial golf match against the United States.
This poses a considerable challenge in terms of creating a team unity between such disparate cultures and languages as Australian, Chinese and Chilean.
Which is why newly-appointed International captain Trevor Immelman has said he is going to lean heavily on the culture created by his predecessor, fellow South African Ernie Els, in the 2021 event at Quail Hollow in North Carolina. Els, faced with the most diverse team in Presidents Cup history, with nine countries represented from five continents, spearheaded the toughest challenge the United States had experienced in the event for many years, the Americans eventually having to come from behind on the last day to win 16-14.
“Though we were unable to deliver Ernie a win at Royal Melbourne last year, the legacy that he established in his time as captain is something I hope to build on moving forward. I can’t wait to continue adding to the platform he created for us. Ernie knew that he needed to find a way to create a family dynamic among our team, and we felt that over the years that might have been what was missing.
“It’s a pretty big hurdle to try and overcome when you have players coming from nine different countries, with their own cultures and languages, in just one week. Ernie really went out of his way to build unity amongst the group and that worked in our favour. He really felt like our team needed some kind of identity. With the creation of a new International Team logo, that identity was born.
“What he did for us is going to be a turning point for the International team. We have the blueprint that will hopefully lead us to victory, we had amazing chemistry in our team room down in Australia. And it translated on to the golf course, where our guys really did compete as one unit, and we came so close to pulling it off,” Immelman, who was an assistant captain in Melbourne, said in his PGA Tour player diary this week.
Immelman made his name globally by winning the 2008 Masters, beating Tiger Woods by three strokes, but wrist, elbow and back injuries then put his playing career into intermission.