Stacked U.S. Presidents Cup team faces International squad intent on ‘shocking the world’
The major storylines — and the 12-man teams — have now been set for the 2022 Presidents Cup in Charlotte.
The Americans will enter the Sept. 22-25 event at Quail Hollow Club as heavy favorites. The International squad, which would have been an underdog in the best of circumstances, has lost several key players to LIV Golf and now will be considered even less likely to win.
Trevor Immelman, the captain of the International team, recognizes all that.
“On paper, you know, we look like we should be blown away,” Immelman said during an appearance in Charlotte on Wednesday. “But you’ve still got to go play.”
Later, in an interview with The Charlotte Observer, Immelman said he relished the opportunity to do something few in the golf world think can be done.
“There’s no doubt that it would be shocking the world, really,” he said, “if we managed to pull this off.”
Both Immelman and U.S. captain Davis Love III announced their 12-man Presidents Cup rosters earlier this week. The American team includes world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and five players in the world’s top 10 (Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa). The American team also will include Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner, Jordan Spieth, Cameron Young, Sam Burns and Tony Finau. The 2022 U.S. team is the youngest in American Presidents Cup history, with an average age of 29.6.
The International team would have boasted world No. 2 Cameron Smith of Australia, but he has joined the competing LIV Golf tour and is thus barred from the Presidents Cup, which is one of the PGA Tour’s signature events and is being held for the first time in Charlotte. Now the International team has no players in the top 10. Its highest-ranked player is Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who is 16th, and South Korea’s Sungjae Im, who is 18th.
Immelman said in Wednesday’s interview that four players who would likely have been among his top 12 instead left for LIV Golf. He and Love both understand that the turmoil in golf right now — caused by top players choosing to leave for tens of millions of dollars in guaranteed money offered by LIV Golf and then being banned from PGA Tour events — will continue to be a story as the event draws closer.
“I feel bad for the game of golf right now that this is the story going in,” Love said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. “... I feel bad for all of us, really. But Trevor has a job to do, and that’s to take 12 guys that are ready to play. … I have the same thing. I have these 12 guys that are dying to play for Team USA. And it will be a great show once Thursday (Sept. 22) starts.”
The U.S. has traditionally dominated the Presidents Cup, which is normally played every two years and pits a team of American players against a team of non-European players worldwide.
In 13 previous Presidents Cups, the U.S. is 11-1-1, with its only loss coming in 1998. However, the U.S. had to pull off a come-from-behind victory on the final day the last time the Presidents Cup was contested, in Australia in 2019.
Love said his American team has never played together before in this event and that there are no guarantees.
“It hits you that, ‘Hey, this is going to be huge,’ ” Love said. “It’s still going to be that stadium, that first tee, with American flags and ‘Go USA.’ These guys — this is their 12-man team that has never played together before. So they want to win for this team. So I don’t think we have to do too much messaging or motivation. Certainly you don’t want to be on a losing team, ever.”
Immelman was in Charlotte on Wednesday to speak to 280 people at the Hood Hargett Breakfast Club, held at Charlotte’s Carmel Country Club.
Afterward, he said of the International team’s underdog role: “I don’t even think I have to try and sell that. You know, everybody can see that. And so we’ll represent underdogs all over the world.”
This story was originally published September 7, 2022 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Stacked U.S. Presidents Cup team faces International squad intent on ‘shocking the world’."
