DRAMA FOR A CHANGE
Presidents Cup format changes seek to make event more competitive.
After American dominance, format changes could boost Internationals
The last time the Internationals won The Presidents Cup, Bill Clinton was living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Tiger Woods had one major championship on his résumé, Phil Mickelson had yet to win a major and Jordan Spieth was, gulp, celebrating his fifth birthday.
In other words, it was long ago — in Presidents Cup years, that is, which, like dog years, make it seem so much longer.
Since the USA was routed in Australia in 1998, relevancy in this biennial match-play tussle between the Stars & Stripes and the rest of the world, excluding Europe, has taken a hit. Just once since Clinton left the White House has there even been a tie, the drama-dripping 2003 matches in South Africa.
Otherwise, it’s been a snooze fest with little to awaken the passions of any golf fan, as the overwhelmingly deep USA has outscored its counterpart 95-75 in winning the last five matches by at least three points.
So ahead of this year’s 11th edition of the competition, which begins Thursday (Wednesday in the USA) at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, the Cup was revamped.
The number of matches was reduced from 34 to 30. The format now calls for five matches Thursday and Friday, followed by four four-ball and four foursome matches Saturday and 12 singles matches Sunday. Matches that are tied after 18 holes will be declared draws, with half-points awarded. And every player must participate in two of the first four sessions; the previous rule required players to participate in three of the first four sessions.
Internationals captain Nick Price says losing gets old. Barely being competitive gets even older. That’s why he spearheaded the changes.
“Win, lose or draw, we all want to see it come down to the final match on Sunday instead of being done with eight matches left on the golf course on Sunday,” Price said. “I think we’ve seen in the past that The Presidents Cup needs more excitement. It needs to be more closely contested. Certainly most of us on the International team feel that hasn’t been the case the last five or six Presidents Cups.
“The last four or five players on our team, we’ve always been weaker. … We just feel that the less points that there are in the team matches, the more chance it is of being exciting on Sunday.”
Many on the U.S. team don’t like the changes. As captain Jay Haas said, who would want to change
anything when you’re on a roll?
“As a player we all want to play. You look at our lineup, and it’s pretty hard to sit anyone,” said Haas, an assistant captain for the last three editions of The President Cup. “But I’ve told the players not to worry about it. Let’s go forward and play.”
Extreme makeover or not, the script remains the same heading into the first day: The Americans are loaded and heavily favored. Led by world No. 1 and two-time major winner Spieth, the USA boasts three of the top-five and five of the top-10 players in the world. All 12 Americans are ranked in the top 29.
The Internationals, on the other hand, have one top-10 player: No. 2 Jason Day, a winner of five PGA Tour titles, including his first major, this season. Their next-highest-ranked player, Louis Oosthuizen at No. 13, is nursing a hamstring injury. Seven of the Internationals are ranked lower than the Americans’ lowestranked player, No. 29 Bill Haas.
“Everyone on the team knows we need to win. The guys understand what we’re here to do,” Day said.
“With the new points structure, hopefully that makes it a lot closer. And not only for us as competitors but for fans watching, for media watching, for people watching around the world. No one wants to see it be done Saturday afternoon and then the single rounds mean nothing. …
“We’re going to remember it for a long time if we win, and it’s going to be painful if the Americans lose because of how they played this year. They have played phenomenal golf.”
The USA wants to add to its memories and is definitely not taking the upcoming affair lightly. Yes, on paper it looks to have the making of a rout again. But the golf course is not made of paper.
“We’ve got to step up and take care of business,” Rickie Fowler said. “The other team, the guys are playing well. They have a lot of great players. I’ve got a great team behind me and feel like we’re a better team if we play well. But the guys on the International team believe the same thing about their team.”
“Things have changed,” Zach Johnson said. “Probably not to our liking as far as the points and format having been changed, but we can’t do anything about that now.
“We have to go out and perform. We can’t be lackadaisical.” That, the U.S. team is not. “I truly believe this Presidents Cup will be the hardest one for us to win in a decade,” said Spieth, who won five Tour titles this year and is the reigning PGA Tour player of the year.
The 22-year-old Texan pointed to the talented depth of the International team this time and the strong form many International were flashing. The USA is playing on foreign soil; while the Americans won’t be intimidated by the hometown fans, the Internationals will be inspired by the crowds, especially with Koreans Sangmoon Bae and Danny Lee on the team.
“Phil has been talking about this for a while now. The bottom half of their team this year is scary, scary good,” Spieth said. “They will be extremely excited. The Internationals are approach- ing this like it’s the biggest event of the year. We have to be able to really compete, and we’re going to have to have our best stuff. It will be tough.”
Mickelson has played in every Presidents Cup, so he’s been on the right side of a lot of lopsided matches. This year, he said, will be different.
“This is going to be an extremely close, difficult match decided by one or two points,” Mickelson said. “I think that with the reduction of four points, with the ability that is on the International team, the talent level, it’s going to be a very difficult, tough match.
“I think the first two days are going to be critical, I really do. The first two days, those 10 points are going to set the tone for the match, and those first two days will be very important.”