The United States maintained their Presidents Cup winning streak over the International Team, with the latest victory reigniting debate about whether change is needed in the biennial contest. Brandt Snedeker's side produced the largest final-day comeback in Presidents Cup history at Medinah, winning 9.5 of the 12 points on offer in the Sunday singles to close out a record-extending 11th consecutive victory. A 17-13 winning margin doesn't tell the full picture from a closer-than-expected contest, including a foursomes session sweep for the Internationals on Friday and them leading going into the final day for just the fourth time ever.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player The harsh reality, however, is that the International Team fell short again after threatening a shock victory, extending their wait for a first win over the United States since 1998. Geoff Ogilvy's side were more than a match for the Americans over the first three days but were outclassed on Sunday, meaning Team USA have now won 14 of 16 Presidents Cups ever played. "It was sort of on a knife's edge all day," Ogilvy said.
"Some of those one downs that we had out there, if they'd flipped to one up, the numbers look really good and who knows what momentum can give." The Presidents Cup is a four-day event with 30 total matches, which is a day longer and two matches more than the format used for both the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup. The disparity in strength of teams in the Presidents Cup is greater than in the two involving Europe, so could a tighter schedule of fewer matches be of benefit? Playing foursomes and fourballs on both Friday and Saturday means fewer matches but more opportunities to bench weaker members of a team, plus puts less pressure on the marquee names to play in every session.
"They need to start the President's Cup on Friday and reduce the number of points," Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee insisted. If they're playing for 28 in the Ryder Cup, why in the heck are they playing for 30 in the Presidents Cup when there's a bigger separation between the talent? "If it were just 24 points, you would only need 12 and a half to get to a victory.
The first three Presidents Cups were started on a Friday and if you go back and combine the points from 1994, 1996 and 1998, they [Team USA and Internationals] were dead even after those three. "There's no point in it going four days, drawing it out. The longer you go out, the more the better players and the better team are going to come to the fore.
That was evidenced very poignantly." The Presidents Cup being a PGA Tour-owned event immediately makes LIV Golf League players ineligible, which has had a bigger impact on the International Team's depth than it has on the United States. The early years of the Presidents Cup saw the Internationals have former world No 1s Greg Norman, Nick Price, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh at their disposal, but their strength had already weakened before the emergence of LIV Golf. Chilean Joaquin Niemann and 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith are two of the players no longer able to feature, with Lucas Herbert - who impressed this season - and International Team stalwart Louis Oosthuizen among the others who can't be involved.
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