International side have ‘tall challenge’ against US at Presidents Cup

Toronto — The US are once again hot favourites entering this week’s Presidents Cup in Montreal but International team captain Mike Weir said his squad should not be underestimated in their bid to snap the Americans’ dominance.

The US are 12-1-1 in the biennial competition that began in 1994, having lost in 1998 and settled for a tie in 2003, but Weir is not bothered by past results and knows that matchplay golf can be unpredictable and serves as a great leveller.

“Golf’s golf and there are going to be challenging matches no matter what. The odd time there’s a team that runs away with a match here and there, but most of the matches are always tight,” Weir said at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

Standing in the International team’s way of regaining the Presidents Cup is Jim Furyk’s powerhouse US squad that boasts five of the top 10 players in the world and all 12 of his team members are ranked inside the top 25.

By comparison, Japanese world No 7 Hideki Matsuyama, making his sixth Presidents Cup start, is the highest-ranked golfer on an International team that features eight players who are sitting outside the top 25.

“So we’ve got a tall challenge, but the guys are up for it, they’re ready for it, and they’re embracing that,” Weir said.

Former Masters champion Weir, whose squad includes three fellow Canadians, is also counting on plenty of support from the galleries like he received during his 2007 win over Tiger Woods the last time the Presidents Cup was at Royal Montreal.

“It’s a big part of this competition, I believe, and a big part of team golf where you can ride some momentum and the crowd gets behind you, and you can really feed off that,” he said.

“I certainly did here in 2007, not only with my match playing Tiger, but just the other matches; you get the crowd energy and you can raise your level a little. So it can be a huge factor.”

Furyk was the losing Ryder Cup captain when the US fell to Europe in 2018 and insisted he would be making some changes in how he runs his team this week.

While not revealing his plans, Furyk simply said he would draw from some good experiences that they’ve had in the past.

“The biggest question I always get asked from 2018 is would you, if you had the chance to go back and do something differently, would you?” Furyk said.

“The first time I heard the question, I started laughing. My answer was very simple; how arrogant would you have to be to say, nope, we didn’t win, but I wouldn’t do anything different at all. Of course, I would. I’d go back and change it.

“So I’m trying to implement some of those changes and kind of put those in for 2024 has been kind of a big push for me.”

Round one, which will consist of five four-ball matches featuring pairings still to be announced, will be played on Thursday.

Teams: 

US: Jim Furyk (capt), Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala, Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Max Homa

International: Mike Weir (capt), Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Jason Day, Byeong Hun An, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Si Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee, Taylor Pendrith. — Reuters