After all the yelling and screaming, catcalls, and general unruly fan behavior, which is typical for these type of events, the USA bludgeoned the Internationals again with the strike of Thor’s hammer.  The USA has now won every one of these events, but one,  and you have to wonder why the PGA keeps holding the event.  If you’re a college football fan, you know that Appalachian State once dealt the Michigan Wolverines an embarrassing loss and that might compare to the Internationals improbable win in 1998.  There was the usual hype leading up to the event at Royal Montreal that this time would be different with 6 Canadians on the team with Canadian captain Mike Weir.  Mike had success in this event and dusted off Tiger Woods in a singles match.  It was all very interesting banter but the USA had a powerful team led by Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffle.  Captain Jim Furyk was very well prepared for the matches as he had plenty of experience from his Ryder Cup captaincy in 2008.  Furyk  knew that he had to win this competition.  There really is no upside for the USA.  They were favored to win, they had the players and they had the experience.  The International side boasted very good players such as Hideki Matsuyama and Corey Connors but the squad wasn’t deep enough to take on the likes of the USA.  Furyk was so bold as to add the next Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley to play in the event instead of serving as a vice captain.  Furyk pushed all the right buttons and the USA threw a shutout on day one.  The Canadian crowd that was ready to hiss the Americans into submission turned up to be pretty quiet as there wasn’t much to cheer about as the International squad was stuffed.  The USA was just too much and when you’re ahead by such a wide margin, the intensity seems to fall off no matter how you think about it.    Many of the USA players went out with a mindset of 0-0 on Day 2 but ,no matter, they were gored by the Internationals giving a real sense of hope to the squad.  The intensity picked up on Day 3 as the matches stood–USA 7  Internationals 6–with 5 points left to play, it appeared that momentum had shifted and the crowd went into absolute jingoistic intensity.  Unlike the thundering “OLES” that spur the European players in the Ryder Cup, the International “oles” just didn’t cut it.  Additional cries of “INT” and “3 PUTT” basically went unheeded by the USA squad and while the matches were close, the Americans did the damage on the finishing holes and ended the third session up 11-7.  Essentially the Internationals were cooked by not coming through at the end of the 3rd round, and the inevitable was in the cards for Sunday.

Max Homa drains the final putt of the 2024 President’s Cup

I found Tom Kim’s behavior to be somewhat whacky and immature.  He was upset and agitated when a 2 1/2 foot putt was not conceded by the Americans and he displayed his discontent by displaying the length of his putter.  We have all played in matches when putts that should be conceded are not and we don’t whine about it as bad sportsmanship.  We suck it up and make a mental note that states you better assume that nothing will be given.  Seve Ballesteros was a master of these techniques by getting inside the head of your competitor in match play and it served his mates well throughout his career.  Kim went off about it  and then proceeded to demonstrate all manners of emotion as he and is partner SW Kim tried to ignite the crowd and grab that point for the International squad.  What’s embarrassing is after all this hysteria including a Stephen Curry runaround after SK Kim holed a difficult chip shot, they lost anyway and the USA smugly assumed what would be an insurmountable lead for the Sunday singles matches.

There was no way that the USA could lose this competition in the singles.  Furyk smartly pushed out his best players as the USA only needed 4 1/2 points out of a possible 12 points to grab another gold bowl.  Furyk pushed Schauffle out against Jason Day and after Day took an early 2 up lead, Schauffle came back to wax Day 4 and 3.  The Americans would need only 3 1/2 points now.  The biggest highlights for the Internationals on Sunday was Matsuyama’s come from behind victory over Scottie Scheffler.  Matsuyama trailed for most of the match but seemed like a man possessed in the finishing holes, hitting great shot and after great shot and blitzing Scheffler for a wonderful comeback victory.  It was the best match of the day.  Only Corey Connors would do something equally well as he squashed Tony Finau 5 and 3.  The rest of the matches were predominantly American victories, and the unlikely winning putt was provided by one Keegan Bradley, the next Ryder Cup captain.  Sam Burns pulled off a gritty undefeated performance for the USA and established himself as a significant player in these games.

The Americans were naturally happy in victory but deep down they knew that they had the superior team and that this result was widely expected.  Furyk was measured in his remarks as his strategic pairings worked perfectly and every button that he pressed went in the right direction.  For Mike Weir, the matches were disappointing.  Much was expected of this team and a lot of energy was expended to ignite a crowd who seemed to want to party more than worry about whether an International victory could be secured.  I must admit that I would have trouble shouting “INT” to ignite anybody.  I still believe it is difficult to communicate to a team that has English as a second language for many of the participants no matter how good they really are.  We must not forget that these guys are all really good professional tour players competing against each other every week.  Team play and the resultant formats are challenges that aren’t faced by these players during the year and its difficult to match skill sets for players that have never played together.

I believe the President’s Cup should become the “do do bird” of golf competition.  It needs to disappear.  I would replace it with an international competition by country with a four man team and a playoff scenario similar to the Fed Ex Cup (without giving anybody any strokes).  I believe a competition that could feature the US, Scotland, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, Japan etc. could really showcase the game in a better manner.  Perhaps it would be a professional version of the Walker Cup–let’s call it “The Arnold Palmer Cup.”  Maybe we can get rid of the bombastic chatter of the fans and have a proper event without the cat calls of “Three Putt.”