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Tour Confidential: Presidents Cup MVPs, hidden learnings, U.S. foursome woes
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- Tour Confidential: Presidents Cup MVPs, hidden learnings, U.S. foursome woes
Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com . This week, we discuss the U.S.'s comeback win at the Presidents Cup , the MVPs for both sides and what this wee k portends for the Americans at the Ryder Cup.
The U.S. was trailing by three points heading into Sunday at the Presidents Cup but stormed back to win nine singles matches and tie another to claim the Cup, 17-13, for its 11 consecutive win in this event. What was more impressive: the Internationals' play in the first two days, or the Americans' play on the third and final day?
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James Colgan, news and features editor ( @jamescolgan26 ):The International performance to start the Cup will stick with me far longer than the American performance to save it. Every conceivable indicator told us this iteration of the event was more lopsided than any of the (pretty lopsided!) versions we've seen over the last half-decade. Instead, the INTs gave the Americans everything they could handle.
Josh Sens, senior writer ( @joshsens ): Agreed. Team play has a way of somehow disguising weaknesses — or, maybe, in the case of the Americans — exposing them. But when it reverts singles, and those dynamics of partner are stripped away, you're left with talent and experience going head to head. There was nothing shocking about the U.S. comeback. It was just a bit surprising that they were down as far as they were heading into the final day.
Dylan Dethier, senior writer (dylan_dethier):The U.S. comeback will stick with me because of its sheer force. When the red wave finally hit it obliterated everything in its way, crashing over each of those last seven matches, which each made it to 17 but yielded just one tie and six losses for the International side. Honestly, it was incredibly impressive but also a bit deflating — there was so much heart to the International side's team-play performance that it was somewhat painful to see them go out in such tragic fashion.
Who is your MVP for each side?
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Colgan:Cam Young is quickly developing into a serial killer in these team settings. With Bethpage last year, that's two straight events where he's been the best player by a few miles on the U.S. side. Sungjae Im was equally brilliant for the INTs, delivering a rare Black Flag on Sunday when they needed it most.
Sens:Young was the pacesetter, to be sure. But I'd argue that Jackson Koivun came up even bigger in the rare match (against Si Woo Kim) in which the Internationals had the advantage on paper.. His comeback from two down was especially pivotal in flipping the momentum late in the day. If Kim had gone on to win that point, a couple of the other closing matches — I'm thinking, in particular, of Russell Henley against Nick Taylor, and Jacob Bridgeman against Min Woo Lee — would have taken on a different atmospheric pressure, with potentially different results.
Dethier:Tom Kim was the only man to pick up four points on the week and is my International MVP, especially after a gritty Sunday showing against Wyndham Clark. Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup are co-MVPs on the American side; when they finally teamed up on Saturday they kept the U.S. team in it.
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker weathered far more second-guessing (including from himself!) than International captain Geoff Ogilvy — and yet still came out on top. What was your assessment of how the American skipper handled his duties?
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Colgan:Uhhh, poorly. He had a massive talent advantage on home soil and eked out a pretty narrow victory that appeared to be operating with little plan or bigger strategy. Just because he won doesn't make him a "winning" captain.
Sens:I think it's easy to second guess, but aside from sitting the best player in the world on Saturday afternoon, I'm not sure anything he did would have yielded different results. We've seen this over and over out of the Americans – they're weaker in team play than they are in singles. On top of that, the Internationals got some exceptional play in those partnerships up and down the roster.
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Dethier:The losing captain always takes too much flak in these things, and so I felt for Snedeker on Saturday night even though I disagreed with a couple of his decisions. But ultimately it's a results-oriented position, and the U.S. team won by four, so whatever Snedeker did ahead of Sunday singles certainly worked.
The U.S.'s play in singles was dominant, but the team continues to struggle in foursomes, a format in which they went 2-7 this week, dropping their combined foursomes record in Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups since 2023 to 8-26. What is going on here?
Colgan:I spent a while looking into the numbers behind this yesterday, and the answer is that the Americans don't show up ready to play in the format. Of 18 opening foursome session matches since 2023, the Americans are 1-17. Of those 18 matches, they've trailed after 6 holes 15 times. To me, that reflects a total lack of preparation. You can't wait for the event to start to "turn it on." You can't wait for players to "get a feel for their partner." By the time you've done that, you're already in a hole.
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Sens:I think James' answer points in part to the deeper reason. If it is in fact a lack of preparation for early partner play, doesn't that suggest that the stereotype is true: that Americans are more individualistic, more comfortable on their own, less inspired by collective action. I know it seems cliche to the point of being lazy to repeat that old saw. But I also don't see much evidence that it isn't true.
Dethier:You'd assume that some of those stereotypes — about Americans playing well on their own ball, but notably worse when they have to take turns — would be statistical noise. But this week seemed exaggerated on both fronts; foursomes went miserably and singles went beyond their wildest dreams. There's obviously some randomness involved, but there's also enough of a trend line that I'd offer next year's Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk this special advice: make sure your guys practice alternate shot!
Match play, especially on such a high-pressure stage, reveals players' character in a way that stroke play does not. What's one thing you learned or saw in one of the 24 players this week that you didn't know before the event?
Colgan:I learned that Jackson Koivun has the "it" factor in big moments. He was arguably the most important point all day for the Americans, and unquestionably the least experienced player in the field. Kudos to him for closing it out when it counted.
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By: Nick Piastowski
Sens:Koivun is a good call. Another telling sequence was seeing Scottie Scheffler concede what would have been a pretty much impossible par to his opponent, Nico Echavarria, after Echavarria had been heckled during his downswing on the tee. And then, moments later, seeing Wyndham Clark fail to concede a slam-dunk two-putt to his opponent, Tom Kim, that ended the match. Granted, they were different scenarios. But in terms of image-making, that underscored the public perception of Scheffler as a sporting gentleman, and Clark as, well, somewhat harder to like. Even the NBC announcers, who seemed allergic to saying anything even remotely critical all week, called out Clark's decision as strange.
Dethier:This is about his golf game rather than his moral fiber, but still: If we're drafting golfers for a team, I think I'm taking Cameron Young first. He was an absolute force this weekend and his tone-setting beatdown in the first singles match proved a sign of things to come.
The 2027 Ryder Cup is less than a year away. Did this week make you feel better or worse about the U.S.'s chances against Europe at Adare Manor in Ireland next September?
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Colgan:Worse. It showed me the Americans do a lot of talking about "changing things," but have little to show for it in the setting where they're worst: foursomes. Until we see some actual evidence of a shift in leadership, I predict the American alternate-shot woes will continue.
Sens:I wouldn't say I feel better about the American chances, but that doesn't mean I feel worse in general. I think it's generally better for the Ryder Cup when the U.S. struggles and slips into an existential crisis. It adds more fuel to the rivalry and makes for a more exciting buildup and competition, all the while throwing water on the irritating assumption — which still lingers despite what has happened over the past decade plus — that the U.S. is somehow exceptional and entitled to win.
Dethier:Better, I'd say. These last two years have shown that, whatever their team-play deficiencies, these Americans work well enough on their own that no lead is insurmountable. I wouldn't recommend they dig such a deep hole again, but they'll never feel out of the competition regardless of score.
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