Thursday Themes - Prez Cup Edition

A light blogging schedule is expected until the next golf of any significance....yanno, April?

Prez Picks - Kind of a yawn, though not without some threads to pick at.... As of the close of business, this was the final U.S. points standings:

Alas, that's as big as I can make the file, but you'll first note that the folks at ESPN that do nothing but sports can't seem to keep their cups straight.... The first six automatically qualify, five usual suspects, so cue the speculation about hat sizes.

That put the ball in court of Captain Jim "Alas, Poor" Furyk, whose 2018 Ryder Cup cluelessness is somehow a qualification for this gig.  I'm old enough to remember when our Task Force™ determined to use the Prez Cup to train future Ryder Cup captains, whereas it's devolved into a jobs program fore failed Ryder Cup captains.  Must be run by the federal government or something...

Here are Captain Furyk's picks:

• Sam Burns
• Tony Finau
• Russell Henley
• Keegan Bradley
• Brian Harman
• Max Homa

Brave Captain Furyk seems to have a wee case of PTSD from Paris, perhaps deducing that the way to avoid incoming is to go Full Chalk, taking Nos. 7-12 on the points list.  It's certainly possible that those are the six guys that he really wants and that fit best...  But to this observer it seems to denote the absence of a strong hand.  

Golf Digest did the roundtable thing, including these surprises:

Any surprises among the picks?

DS: Max Homa on the American side. Played well in the Ryder Cup last year, but his form has been less than stellar of late. Teamed well with Brian Harman in Rome, so I’m thinking this was a two-fer choice. Not excited about it.

SR: It doesn't make any sense to me to leave Justin Thomas off the team. Zach Johnson took him last year for his experience and success at team match-play events, and his form is actually better this year! How do you take him over Homa, who has struggled lately? JT is just such a weapon that despite the rough optics of the Ryder Cup, and all the embarrassing “Full Swing” segments, I'd still be looking for any excuse to get him on the squad.

JB: Homa. He was the breakout star of the 2022 Presidents Cup and was solid in Rome for last year’s American squad, but he’s been a mess since May, failing to post a top-20 finish in his last nine starts.

Let me see if I have this right, Homa makes sense because he pairs well with Harman, who himself has done absolutely nothing this year?  Boy that Task Force is Good!

"Snub" is the word of the day, and it's applied most frequently to the one guy:

Justin Thomas

Thomas is on the Ryder Cup committee, which was put in place to make captain’s selections, derive how the team would look, and build a solid foundation for Team USA for decades. He deserves that spot, too, having competed in every team competition since 2017. He’s starred on a number of those teams, too. But he is apparently not a fit for Furyk’s roster. The American captain was asked about Thomas specifically when he joined Golf Channel to explain his picks, and the first two words out of his mouth were rather telling: “Tough, tough.”

If the U.S. loses in Montreal, this is the pick that will be cited more than any other.

There's a case for JT, but Sean Zak couldn't be bothered making it.  Although being on the Committee isn't actually helpful on the golf course, Sean.

Dethier: Fair enough. How ’bout the biggest snub on the U.S. Team?

Zak: It’s Justin Thomas, without question. Everyone reading this article will agree. Thomas has as much good experience as anyone in this event, dominating with Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods at his side. He injects life into the event, into his teammates, into fans watching at home. That’s the kind of thing you can’t really put specific value on, but you know it can be very valuable.

Colgan: I’ll continue to ride for putting legend Denny McCarthy to earn a spot on a U.S. team, but it’s obviously JT.

Maybe he asked not to be on the team without most of his Ryder Cup pals; maybe he didn’t want to experience life in a fourball pairing away from his pal Jordan; maybe he really was left off the roster. I suppose we’ll find out soon why he won’t be there, but as it stands, it’s the most flagrant development in an ugly 18-month slide.

Dethier: I’m as confused as you guys when it comes to JT. So far all we have is a wholly unsatisfactory answer from Jim Furyk, but I don’t get Thomas’ snub at all. Look, you can argue Thomas shouldn’t have made last year’s Ryder Cup team. But this year? He’s the perfect example of why you have captain’s picks to begin with — so you can select a guy in good form with good pedigree and solid intangibles. He even played well at East Lake, piling up birdies en route to a seventh-place finish on the shadow leaderboard.

I’d also be upset if I was Billy Horschel, who has been playing excellent golf for more than a month now. He was the best of a handful who could have made a really strong case with a top finish at East Lake, but neither Horschel (23rd in raw scores out of 30), Akshay Bhatia (T24), Chris Kirk (T24) nor Tom Hoge (T29) did enough to move the needle.

And others in the conversation like Denny McCarthy or even Davis Thompson, Mav McNealy or Nick Dunlap weren’t there to make their cases.

Apparently Dylan Dethier believes that the legal concept of stare decisis  applies to team golf, because they were required to put JT on this team because they put him on last year's Ryder Cup team.  Has anyone told Dylan that that 2023 team sucked?

There is a case for JT, and Colgan makes it best, but he's also 19th in the points standings.  It's not a snub for the simple reason that he didn't earn it, and the East Lake references are cherry picking basically one strong Sunday against 29 players Sheesh, talk about miniscule sample sizes.

The other point to make is the issue of age.  Are we trying to develop a cadre of young players that will be the backbone of future cup teams?  Russel Henley is 35, Brian Harman is 37, Tony Finau is 34 and Keegan Bradley is 38.  By way of contrast, Akshay Bhatia is 22.... If you're gonna gamble, aren't we looking for upside?

Shall we get to the Internationals?

Same deal, the top six qualify automatically, with Captain Mike Weir picking the following guys:

• Corey Conners,
• Taylor Pendrith
• Mackenzie Hughes
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout
• Si Woo Kim
• Min Woo Lee

The first thing we'll catch is the three Canucks providing red meat to the home crowd.  None of them got there on their own, but obviously Connors was a near miss.  He's a ball-striking machine, sop pencil him for both foursome session.

But to find Mackenzie Hughes one first passes other Canucks, so wassup with that?  Back to Sean zak:

  

Nick Taylor

This year’s Cup will be played in Montreal. It will be captained by a Canadian. There are three Canadians on the roster. But the literal logo for the Canadian Open, Nick Taylor, will somehow not be involved. Taylor won earlier this year, too, at the Phoenix Open, but that was back in February. This is September. Taylor hasn’t nabbed a top-25 finish in the last five months, missing the cut at every major. As far as in-form players go, he’s not on the list. But it’s not all about that.

And Golf Magazine:

II. BIGGEST SNUBS

Dethier: To the juicy stuff, then. Who has the biggest gripe? Let’s start with the International Team — who should be most pissed to be left home?

Zak: Nick Taylor deserves to be the most pissed, but not necessarily at Mike Weir. More at himself. Love me some Nick Taylor, but he would be the first to tell you he hasn’t shown up at the biggest events. He’s missed the cut at each of the last eight majors he’s played. I know it’s eating at him, and this decision won’t make it feel any better.

Colgan: Nick Taylor is the Jerry West of Canadian Golf. He’s the freakin’ logo!!! (Of the Canadian Open, but I digress.) In a tournament built upon adrenaline and high-stakes shotmaking, I don’t see how you can leave out the only Canadian who’s done it on home soil. Yeah, I get the recent resume argument, but I don’t like it.

And speaking of disappointed Canadians, I probably would’ve had Adam Hadwin on the roster, too, for similar reasons.

Zak: The chaos agent in me wanted every single Canadian invited. Mike Weir would have earned legend status in Canadian Golf history, if he hadn’t reached it already, and golf legend status if that would lead to an upset victory.

Dethier: I love that mentality, Sean. Bring on Adam Svensson while we’re at it! Gimme Ben Silverman! An all-Canadian roster would be a bold strategy for a team that needs bold. Look, it’s clear the International side is leaning on the data and it’s tough to argue with that approach. But if things don’t go well we’ll wonder if they should have gone even more Canadian to get the fans (politely) creating as raucous an atmosphere as possible.

I actually like Weir’s picks, overall. I would have loved to find Taylor a spot. And I’m surprised Cam Davis didn’t have a better year, outside of his win. Still, no massive objections.

Davis seems the biggest snub to me, sitting in that eighth slot.  

Golf Magazine did have this interesting take:

I. LAST MEN IN

Dethier: We’ll get to some snubs and second-guessing, but let’s start with the guys who should be grateful to be headed to Montreal. Who was the last man in for the International Team?

Sean Zak: I think it was Taylor Pendrith, who really didn’t show much form until about six weeks ago. He didn’t even play the Open Championship because he was on the outside looking in. That’s not exactly a great indication of top-level ability or form. But hey, he’s gonna be there in Montreal.

James Colgan: It’s probably one of the Canadians — Pendrith or Mack Hughes. Neither had a crazy good resume that necessitated being on the team, but I don’t necessarily fault the decision-making. Fellow Canucks are likely to play well with the crowd.

Zak: James is going to call me a Mack Hughes truther — and he may be fair to do so — but I think Mack made the team months ago, when he showed just how hot his putter can get. You guys were there at Quail Hollow in 2022 — the Internationals needed just a couple hot putters and they would have made it interesting.

Colgan: I’m going to call you that because you are a Mack Hughes truther.

Dethier: If we get too deep on Mackenzie Hughes’ putting stats we’re going to lose every single reader before we even get to the U.S. side, so let’s head there in a second. I do think Hughes was the last man in, for the record. I’ll just add that, from what I heard, these picks were decided pre-Tour Championship, which is good news for Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who finished tied for last at East Lake — though honestly he has the resume to merit a selection regardless.

Fun musings, but Weir didn't depart far from  chalk... Plus, when the last guy on the points list putts like Mackenzie Hughes, that guy will be on the team for sure.

Anyway, who was the last man in for the Americans?

Zak: Considering Jim Furyk’s six captain’s picks were the players ranked 7th through 12th on the Presidents Cup points list, I think technically Max Homa was the last man in. And considering how poorly he has played lately, that checks out. I think even Homa himself probably wasn’t planning on receiving a pick.

Colgan: Maybe on paper, Zak, but in practice there’s no way Homa was the last American in. He practically carried the stars and stripes alone in both of his team play starts (PC in ‘22, RC in ‘23), and he’s shown us he can tap into — to borrow his parlance — that dawg in these events.

I think the last guy, at least by roster fit, is Russell Henley. Henley had a really good season, and he’s a rock-solid player, but I don’t quite get U.S. team stalwart from him.

Dethier: Lousy takes by both of you. Henley might be a top-five player on this team, for one thing. And Homa’s 7.5 points in 2022 and 2023 are a full two more than any other American. If I’m Brian Harman I’m especially grateful to get the invite to Royal Montreal; he’s been solid but unspectacular, has just one top-20 finish since April and the last time we saw him he was making double bogey on the 72nd hole at the BMW to miss out on a trip to East Lake. And while you literally will not find a bigger Keegan Bradley fan than me, he was probably on the edge despite winning the BMW.

But that logic gets applied to Max but not JT.  It may work out and Furyk can hide behind the points list, but Max Homa hasn't been a very good player for some time.   

Just a couple more bits and I'll be on my way.  The home team, captain has one interesting choice to make, and Weir has chosen:

III. SECOND-GUESSING STRATEGY

Dethier: One note that Captain Weir slipped in there is that the Internationals have decided they’re starting with fourball. (This means best ball, while they’ll save alternate shot for Friday.) Does this matter?

Zak: Normally, I’d say no, but I think given the specifics of this competition it actually does? The Americans are notoriously unsuccessful in foursomes in the Ryder Cup, and the Europeans know it. They led with that in Rome and swept that first session, leading to a 3-day romp. How do you make the Americans nervous? You force them to think about using different golf balls and playing off Sahith Theegala’s errant tee shots. This feels like a mistake. (Of the tiniest magnitude, for the record.)

Colgan: Agreed. It feels like a mistake, or maybe just a defensive decision. If you’re Mike Weir, riding foursomes early raises the risk you fall in a big hole early (not good) but it also raises your chances of juicing the crowd with some early momentum. No pressure, no diamonds!

Dethier: Yeah, I don’t get this either. Seems like they’re leaning on data that supports the idea they’re a better fourball team rather than the visual evidence from Rome (and Paris) that the U.S. guys are terrified of playing each other’s golf shots.

Yanno, this discussion would be a whole lot more fruitful if they suppled some data.  My impression is the U.S. foursomes issue has not translated into the Prez Cup, but wouldn't a good place to start be the relative performance in the two formats in recent Prez Cups?  If only we still had golf journalists....

Dethier: The U.S. wins this thing every year — 12-1-1 all-time. Does the home team have a chance this time around?

Zak: Absolutely. Outside of the 2017 Cup, in which the result was almost guaranteed on Saturday night, this event has been extremely close, even if the Americans win each time. And this is the most eclectic roster that Team USA has put together in a team event, right? We know Scheffler and Burns will play together and Cantlay and Schauffele will, too. But I’m not sure there’s much for obvious pairings through the rest of the team. That kind of uncertainty can kick around a captain’s brain at night when the Cup is tied through three sessions.

Colgan: What’s that saying? Innocent until proven guilty? Well, your honor, I’m going to need to see some International wins before I start hedging any differently.

Dethier: I’m with Sean — I’m not convinced the U.S. team will dominate — but I need more from Weir. Didn’t exactly feel the intensity on Tuesday.

I think they have a good chance.  There's the logic of them being due, as well as the fact that the U.S. team isn't exactly a juggernaut.... Also, non-U.S. Prez Cups have varied in the intensity of the environment, but I do think the Canucks will turn out and be loud.  Plus, yanno, Furyk.

Finally: What am I missing? What’s something new you learned from Tuesday’s announcements?

Zak: That Jim Furyk is going to make a name for himself. He has some regrets from the 2018 Ryder Cup captaincy in France and wants to make good on that failure. What that looks like, I’m not sure. But it feels like keeping Thomas off the team is the start of some bold decision-making, and I’m here for it.

Colgan: I learned Jim Furyk has grown a greater appetite for upsetting the U.S. team golf establishment than in 2018. We’ll see if it trickles down to the way the team plays!

Dethier: I learned that, from the outside, the U.S. side still seems to be old-school in its selection process compared to its opposition. The Americans went all chalk, taking guys 7-12 from the Presidents Cup points list. The International side, on the other hand, took its six top-ranked options according to DataGolf’s list, which takes a more analytical approach. It’s possible that’s a coincidence, but if I’m an American golf fan I’m concerned that the International side won Tuesday.

Note the cognitive dissonance.... Apparently Furyk is shacking up the U.S. golf establishment that gave a mulligan after his disastrous Ryder Cup captaincy?  And he's doing it by going chalk on his picks?  Wow, that some serious outside-the-box thinking... Just remember, this is the man that put Patrick reed and Phil out in foursomes....The next fairway either of those guys hits will be the first.  But there's a guy as wild off the tee as Phil on this roster, so watch whether he plays Theegala in alternate shot.

Just one last bit that made laugh.  This is the event promo from the Prez Cup website:

Heh!  Months ago I predicted that this team wouldn't have either of those guys....  Yeah, it's a gift.

Playing tomorrow, so no blogging.  have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday.