2017 Presidents Cup teams https://www.presidentscup.com/
This Thursday at Liberty National GC, just outside New York in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, the heavily favoured US team will take on the Internationals at this edition of the Presidents Cup.
11 of the 12 man US squad played last weekend in the Tour Championship and as usual they start the week as the strong bookies favourite. Only 5 of the Internationals were in Atlanta including Adam Hadwin.
So once again it's David vs Goliath, last time the US won by a point and the International team has got to start winning this event to make it work.
US Team
On paper coming into this week, this team are overwhelming favourites. They are after their 7th win in a row, at home, their lowest ranked player at 30th is Phil Mickelson and half the International team are below that. They absolutely dominate foursomes and that's how play begins on Thursday. They also have the advantage of playing together every year, ie Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and are tried and tested in under extreme pressure, although they do have 6 rookies in the team this year.
Recent results: Justin Thomas 2nd, wins FedEx Cup, Kevin Kisner T3, Brooks Koepka 6th, Jordan Spieth T7, Matt Kuchar T10, Patrick Reed T13, Daniel Berger 15th, Dustin Johnson T17, Rickie Fowler 26th, Kevin Chappell T28, Charlie Hoffman T28, Phil Mickelson DNP.
International Team
Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy and Mike Weir are on the coaching staff and you know you may be in trouble when they look like they can play better than some of the guys they are coaching ! However they do have 8 guys returning which gives them an advantage in experience.
7 of the team did not play last week so who knows what form they will bring, and of the 5 that did play at the Tour Championship, they were in the bottom half of the field with Jhonattan Vegas dead last. There are no real fireplugs like Patrick Reed in the team. they will instead rely on Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen to lead by example, they were 5-0 at the last Presidents Cup.
Guys like Adam Scott, Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, Charl Schwartzel have all had their moments on the biggest stages, but none of it recently.
This team is full of if's however if it's any advantage they have nothing to lose, because everyone expects the Yanks to win it in a waltz.
Recent Results: Jason Day T17, Adam Hadwin 23rd, Marc Leishman T24, Hideki Matsuyama 26th, Jhonattan Vegas 30th, Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Si Woo Kim, Emiliano Grillo, Anirban Lahiri all DNP.
Bryan Angus
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