Everything stacked in US favor at another Presidents Cup

CHARLOTTE, N.C.: The last Presidents Cup was so close the International team walked away with renewed hope that it had enough game and enough fight to conquer the mighty Americans.

That now seems so long ago.

Sure, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Presidents Cup back a year. 

“That’s something that we’ve been looking forward to for the last three years,” said British Open champion Cameron Smith, and then 20 days later he was officially announced as defecting to the rival league.

Joaquin Niemann of Chile and Marc Leishman of Australia also took the cash to sign with LIV Golf just two days before the 12-man International team was to be filled out. Louis Oosthuizen, so good in the Presidents Cup he had a winning record while never playing on a winning team, was among the first to go back in June.

US captain Davis Love III was asked if he felt bad for Trevor Immelman, who was chosen International captain long before LIV was anything more than a Roman numeral.

“I feel bad for the game of golf right now that this is the story going in,” Love said. “I feel bad for all of us, really. But Trevor has a job to do, and that’s to take 12 guys in there ready to play, and he’s going to be focused on that.”

The 14th edition of the matches between Americans and an International team composed of players from outside Europe starts Thursday at Quail Hollow Club, and it looks to be as one-sided as the record suggests.

The Americans have lost only once, in 1998 at Royal Melbourne in Australia, matches that ended 12 days before Christmas. There was a tie in South Africa and then eight consecutive US celebrations.

The US are not quite a year removed from giving Europe their worst beating ever in the Ryder Cup, 19-9 at Whistling