MEDINAH, Ill. — The International team lost another Presidents Cup on Sunday, and it’s not a stretch to say that this was one they probably should have won. The perennial upstarts hadn’t had a better opportunity to beat the United States since the 2003 edition in South Africa, where they led by three going into singles and settled for a tie. This time, they had a similar three-point lead and momentum on their side, not to mention having American captain Brandt Snedeker muttering about all the mistakes he had made over the first three days.
And still the International team comprised of non-European players could not win it. With the U.S. capturing 9½ of a possible 12 points in singles play—a record not likely to be broken—the Americans emerged with a 17-13 victory, their 11th straight win and 14th overall in 16 editions of the Presidents Cup.
The overmatched International team put forth a valiant effort to make it competitive, and that’s what everyone at Medinah Country Club wanted to see. But moral victories come with all sorts of emotional baggage because something remarkable was brewing before the Americans authored a singles rally even more impressive—and ultimately more rewarding—than their last-day push that came up short in last year’s Ryder Cup.
The disappointment from the International team loss is more acute because a win was not only there to be had but to be savored. A win on U.S. soil. At Medinah Country Club, where Europe made history. What a story.
Didn’t happen. So, you have to ask yourself, is that all this event can ever hope for—having an International team that is more a legitimate sparring partner than a punching bag? Either way, it still gets knocked out in the end.
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It’s too soon for a complete autopsy to determine the cause of Internationals’ stinging defeat. Captain Geoff Ogilvy was terrific in keeping his charges calm and confident, and it showed in the way his players continually bounced back from slow starts, especially on Saturday when the U.S. tried to fight back from a 5-0 foursomes shellacking. The Australian native and former U.S. Open champion, Ogilvy has a keen intellect and feel for the game. He got a lot out of a team that had only one top 20 player, Si Woo Kim.
Kevin C. Cox
To come so close to pulling off the upset can engender pride or disappointment. Ogilvy chose both.
“Look, the effort makes me really happy as a captain. They did an amazing job this week,” Ogilvy said. “It was incredible. It doesn’t make it any less disappointing. Proud to be a captain, disappointed that it didn’t go their way. They wanted it, and they did everything they could to win this tournament this week.
“We tried to put them in the best position possible. Clearly, we’ll go back to … we’ll have a debrief at some point in the next month and see if we can keep polishing the way we go about this,” he continued. “I felt like we did a pretty good job at this tournament. A few putts here and there in the middle of the day, like I say, and the momentum goes back our way. Could have made a bit of history with that.”
Yep. They surely could have. Instead, the U.S. made history with its scoring record in singles and extending a winning streak that is the second longest in American team golf, just two behind U.S. Curtis Cup teams that won 13 times in a row from 1960-84.
The International Team are greeted by President Donald Trump during the trophy ceremony following their Sunday loss.
Kevin Dietsch
Ogilvy insisted that the culture is changing for the International side, that players want to play for the shield that Ernie Els created for the 2019 matches. You want to believe him, but we’ve heard that for a while now and the scores continue to suggest a narrative that doesn’t change. Trevor Immelman, the captain in 2022 at Quail Hollow, angrily proclaimed that the International team is “no joke.” Well, no one on the American team would say this group was a joke. They put some fear into the home team. Just not enough.
“Trevor said it pretty well in 2022, I think. This is an incredible group of people, and it’s not just the players here … the International team is a very big group of people, and they’re very passionate about this team,” Ogilvy said. “They love the shield. They love everything about this tournament and this team. We’re coming, and when we crack this thing, it’s going to get really good.”
“Well, the week started up really good, and we’ve had a tough day today,” Adam Scott said after his 12th Presidents Cup appearance comprised of 11 losses and a tie. “From my experiences, the environment is definitely getting tougher to play, and this was a tougher environment. There are no excuses, but we’ve got to learn from that and be ready for it. I think as I look at the group on the whole, all these guys are going to be much better players in two years. So I like where it’s going for the International team. The American team, it’s a tough lineup.”
Tough indeed. But they were vulnerable this week for some reason, looking as shaky in pairs matches as they did last year in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. The International team can easily find three or four points that would have flipped the result, starting with the opening fourball match on Thursday in which Sungjae Im and Min Woo Lee let Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns off the hook in a 1-up U.S. win. Those results loom large when you’re trying to consummate an upset.
On Sunday, International players committed a cascade of errors that made them complicit in their own demise. Yes, the Americans played terrific golf. They were far from invincible, however.
A different International team will take another crack at this in 2028 in Australia. By then maybe LIV golfers like Aussie Cam Smith and Joaquin Niemann of Chile will bring some badly needed depth to the squad. Ogilvy and Scott are likely to be part of the leadership team in their home country—unless, of course, Scott is called upon to be a part of the 12-man playing roster. By that time, 30 years will have passed since the lone International victory, which came in Melbourne.
After the closing ceremony, Ogilvy seemed to absorb what his team had done—and what it failed to accomplish. It appeared to wear on him as the minutes passed.
“I used to get pretty emotional in the wrong way when I hit bad shots on the golf course,” Ogilvy said. “It’s different, though. It’s like in a collective like this is such an amazing group of people and it’s such a buildup for such a long time, we’ve had such an amazing week. It’s tough at the end like this. I’m sure it would be amazing at the end the other way. Collective energy inside a group is a very powerful thing, and I think that brings stuff out in you that doesn’t happen if you’re just playing for yourself.”
One day the International team will know the other side of it. It could well have happened this week. It could well be a long way off.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
