Experts: International team needs fast start to end skid at Presidents Cup

L'ÎLE-BIZARD–SAINTE-GENEVIÈVE, Que. — It has been 26 long years since the International team last won the Presidents Cup, but, according to a pair of golf experts, there is a road map to ending that drought at Royal Montreal Golf Club this week.

Jim (Bones) Mackay and John Wood are broadcasting partners for NBC Sports who have also caddied at the highest levels of men's golf. They agreed on Wednesday that if the Internationals are going to beat the United States in the best-on-best match-play tournament, they need a good showing in the first round.

"Get off to a fast start," said Mackay at Royal Montreal. "I just think that in terms of firing up the crowds and getting them that much more behind the team, and getting a little boisterous out there, getting off to a fast start would be nice. I think that's key."

The first Presidents Cup was held in 1994, when the U.S. beat the International team 20-12 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainseville, Va.

That victory set the tone for the rest of the 12-on-12 tournament's history, with the Americans winning 12 times, the Internationals earning one victory in 1998, and the two teams battling to a 17-17 draw in 2003. The U.S. has reeled off nine consecutive wins since that tie.

"When it's on paper it's lopsided but like any sport, you have to hang around. Don't get blown out early. Hang around," said Wood on what it will take to win this week. "Then when you're still close after two days, all of a sudden, that pressure starts to shift and go on to the favourites.

"Because the favourites are looking like 'we should be killing these guys, and we're not.' Then the underdogs start to play with some confidence, and the favourites start to play a little tighter."

The two analysts know of what they speak.

Mackay has caddied in or commentated every single Presidents Cup since the tournament began. Wood has carried bag or done commentary since it was first held at Royal Montreal in 2007.

"The reality of these things is that you put that International colour up there, and they are two matches up through four, it's a real rallying cry for the rest of the team," said Mackay of an early lead. "It gives those guys behind them that much more confidence."

The U.S. team features five of the top 10 players in the world, with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, No. 2 Xander Schauffelle, No. 4 Collin Morikawa and No. 6 Wyndham Clark all outranking world No. 7 Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, the International team's highest rated player.

"We don't feel too much like the underdogs. I think we have an amazing group," said Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., the seventh-highest ranked golfer on the Internationals. "I would definitely say the U.S. has our number here but we're motivated to try and change that."

Conners, ranked 37th in the world, is a favourite of Mackay's to be a difference maker at the Presidents Cup.

"I think he has the kind of game that can contend in majors," said Mackay. "This is a big boy golf course, it's not for the faint of heart, and I think it should fit him well, considering he's a far above average ball striker when he's on his game."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press