You want real “team golf” — well you’ve got it.
Welcome to the 2022 Presidents Cup matches that get going Thursday at the re-routed Quail Hollow Golf Club outside Charlotte.
Biggest question about this latest version that pits the United States against a squad of International player is: Can the Internationals make it a contest — a compelling, interesting contest that can, you know, attract some eyeballs as the college and NFL seasons get going?
First things first. Seems like there’s a thought that too many matches might end too soon and never reach the famous “Green Mile” — and those would be holes 16, 17 and 18 at Quail Hollow. They are three very difficult and demanding holes where big numbers lurk and anything can happen. With that in mind, the course has been re-routed and those will now play as holes 13, 14 and 15, basically giving matches a chance to reach them.
Holes one through eight stay the same but the 12th hole becomes that ninth for these matches. Then holes 10 through 15 will be the original holes 13 through 18, moving that “Green Mile” to become 13, 14 and 15. The final three holes will be the old 10th, 11th and ninth.
Now that’s about as confusing as a 54-hole, shotgun start with no cut but in the end, it should create a bit more drama at key points in all the matches.
So now that we’ve tackled the re-routing puzzle, it’s time to take a look at the two teams and just a simple glance will tell that the U.S. is an overwhelming favorite.
Team USA:
Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Cam Young and Kevin Kisner.
Let’s take a look at their respective rankings in the Official World Golf Rankings: Scheffler (No. 1), Cantlay (No. 4), Schauffele (No. 5), J.T. (No. 7), Morikawa (No. 9), Burns (No. 12), Spieth (Lucky No. 13), Finau (No. 14), Horschel (No. 15), Homa (No. 16), Young (No. 18) and Kevin Kisner (No. 25).
You can see the U.S. team has five players in the world’s top 10. Another four fall inside the top 15. Homa is just outside the top 15 and the “outliers” if you want to call them that happen to be presumed Rookie Of The Year Cam Young at 18 and Kisner, a gritty match play guy Kisner, who has won the WGC Match Play.
Here’s what the lineup looks like for the International side: Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Tom Kim, Corey Conners, Mito Pereira, Adam Scott, Taylor Pendrith, Sebastián Muñoz, Si Woo Kim, Cam Davis, Christian Bezuidenhout and K.H. Lee.
Let’s take a look at their places in the world rankings: Matsuyama (No. 17), Im (No. 19), T. Kim (No. 22), Conners (No. 26), Scott (No. 30), Lee (No. 43), Pereira (No. 49), Munoz (No. 63), Davis (No. 66), Bezuidenhout (No. 67), SW Kim (No. 76) and Pendrith (No. 106).
Truth be known, the International team was looking pretty good until Mullet-Head (aka Cam Smith), Lawn Man (aka Marc Leishman) and Sergio’s best friend (aka Joaquin Niemann) did the Money Grab Dance and defected to the LIV circus/exhibition/free beer and ticket giveaway.
Still, anything can and often does happen in match play although the odds are pretty stacked against the Internationals seeing as the U.S. is on home soil and it’s 7-0 for the Americans at home.
The two teams have waited three years for this 2022 event, COVID nixed the proceedings in 2021. The 2019 edition was a thriller at Royal Melbourne with the U.S. team captained by Tiger Woods winning six singles matches and tying four on the final day that got them a 16-14 win.
The match schedule looks like this:
Thursday: Five Four-Ball (best-ball) matches.
Friday: Five Foursome (alternate shot) matches.
Saturday: Four Four-Ball (morning), Four Foursomes (afternoon)
Sunday: Twelve Singles matches.
If the matches end in a tie, unlike the Ryder Cup, it’s declared a tie.
Television Schedule:
Thursday: 1-6 p.m (EDT). Golf Channel, Peacock
Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m (EDT), Golf Channel/Peacock
Saturday: 7 to 8 a.m (EDT), Golf Channel/Peacock; 8 a.m.-6 p.m., NBC/Peacock
Sunday: 12-6 p.m (EDT), NBC/Peacock
