Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Presidents Cup offers great golf, but not much of a competition
If the “group hug” that is the Presidents Cup ever hopes to be taken seriously as an important sporting competition it needs to develop a sharper edge.
The Presidents Cup lost more than a little bit of respect as a legitimate athletic event on Saturday when smiling International captain Greg Norman raced on to the green to embrace not one of his own men but American Steve Stricker, who had just drained a 26-foot birdie putt to put a stake through his team’s heart (click here for our report).
Welcome to the Presidents Cup, the friendly and fun competition where the biggest bit of controversy at a chilly and subdued Harding Park was the sight of U.S. team special assistant and cigar-chomping basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan lighting it up on the no-smoking municipal golf course.
The only hint of an argument the entire week was over who could lavish more praise on the other team. “You’re the greatest. No, no, you’re the greatest and your wives are the greatest too,” was as ugly as the trash talking got around the Harding Park clubhouse.
The Presidents Cup need not turn into a blood bath but simply a hint of bad blood just might inject some badly needed spice.
This was the third straight Cup in which the Internationals have been spanked by the Americans, accepting the outcome with smiles and masochistic delight while promising to do better next time.
The event attracted sell-out crowds all four days but more tension was to be found during highly competitive practice rounds or even, so it’s said, the table tennis games in the off-limits team room.
British Open proves elementary for Watson, tough on Tiger
It is fair to say we all expected an American with a surname beginning with W to be soaring up the British Open leaderboard but everyone has been shocked that it is 59-year-old senior Tom Watson topping the strong field and not a certain Tiger Woods.
Whilst the world number one toiled in calm conditions at Turnberry’s Ailsa course on Thursday, five-times Open champion Watson was recording a bogey-free five-under-par 65 to take the early clubhouse lead.
“Yesterday and the day before, playing the practice rounds I felt very good about the way I was hitting the ball and the way I was putting the ball,” Watson told reporters. “And it was not much of a surprise for me to go out there and get under par.”
Many will expect the eight-times major winner to fall away and not remain in contention but may I remind you cynics of the performance of another past master, Greg Norman, at last year’s championship at Birkdale. Norman finished third after leading going into the final round.
And it is not just Watson who is proving a torch bearer for the elder members of the golf circuit. Fifty-two year-old twice Open champion Mark O’Meara went out early and fired a solid three-under par 67 to sit alongside 1989 champion Mark Calcavecchia – one year shy of his 50th birthday.
Much of the talk at Turnberry before the championship had been about the chances of young Briton Rory McIlroy and teenaged Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa lifting the Claret Jug but Watson and co have shown them they still have a lot to learn on the South Ayrshire links.
In light of the fact that veteran Kenny Perry, 48, came within a whisker of winning this year’s Masters, only succumbing to eventual winner Angel Cabrera in a play-off, could this be the year the veterans fights back?
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Resident Left Field Expert
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I am glad to see another share similar sentiments regarding the “group hug that is the Presidents Cup.” In recent years, the event seems more like a friendly exhibition then a competitive match. The absence of “bad blood” and animosity between teams is personally disconcerting. I yearn to see patriotic and nationalistic sentiments make the Presidents Cup fiercely contested. Instead the players compete with a certain type of amiable apathy. What causes this complacency? I completely agree with your assertion that “part of the problem with the Presidents Cup is that the Americans can wave their flag while the Internationals are a team without a home — although most have an American address…That sense of camaraderie and purpose is lost in a mix of language and cultures.” Before the match commences, the United States already has a significant advantage because they can rally behind the American flag. On the other hand, the International team is comprised of a multitude of countries including Korea, Australia and Argentina. Their diversity is likely detrimental to team unity. Communication problems are surely abundant when some players struggle to speak English. For example, International team members Y.E. Yang, Ryo Ishikawa and Angel Cabrera all primarily speak another language. The inability to adequately communicate constrains the International team’s capability to formulate strategy and motivate each other. How can an event with ample potential like the Presidents Cup be remedied? I accede that the matches must first become more closely contested. It is an understatement to say that the United States has dominated the Presidents Cup. The International’s sole victory occurred in 1997 at Australia’s Royal Melbourne golf club. In order to attain some competitiveness the International team must stop “accepting the outcome with smiles and masochistic delight while promising to do better next time.”
However, we must realize that the Presidents Cup is still young and we should give it time to mature. The Ryder Cup, for instance, was initially dominated by the United States. It did not become competitive until 1979, some fifty years after its inception. Further, International players are certainly becoming more skilled and abundant. According to the Official World Golf Rankings, twelve of the top twenty-five players are non-Americans. This is clearly promising for the future of this event. Currently the “Presidents Cup is all hugs and hot chocolate,” but it certainly could grow into something much more.