On Thursday, it felt as if we were watching the funeral for the Presidents Cup. On Friday, we saw it rise from the dead and a 5-0 hole. By Sunday, it was the same old tired story of American glory – 18½-11½ officially.
The Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal had its moments, but in the end it just couldn’t deliver the kind of drama that the Ryder and Solheim Cups produce so routinely. Part of the problem is the format; part of it’s that the International team is hamstrung in whom it can select; and part of it is that the top-heavy Americans are just too good.
The International team displayed fire and determination, but whatever chemistry that makes the European formula so successful remains elusive when deployed on a global scale. Suggestions to make it a mixed event or include Europe with the rest of the world (U.S. guys play in these sorts of things every year, so why can’t the Euros?) fall on deaf ears at HQ in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
That’s too bad, because the Prez Cup needs help. The ratings for that Sunday relative snoozefest are likely to be gruesome (NFL was always going to win, but still). Shudder to think how bad it would have been if the Internationals hadn’t staged an unprecedented reversal on Day 2 to reset the potential that a different outcome might be achievable.
Ultimately, it was not. Which is too bad.
BOGEY: Mike Weir. A captain’s job is massively overrated. They’re not doctors, but a captain’s only motto should be “do no harm.” It felt last week as if whatever success the International team had achieved came in spite of its captain instead of because of him. His Canada-lite/late first-day lineup was head-scratching, but his Saturday gameplan to send the same eight guys out regardless and leave Jason Day, Min Woo Lee, Ben An and Christiaan Bezuidenhout cooling on the bench all day felt like borderline leadership malpractice. The International rally hopes ran out of gas late Saturday and dug an untenable hole.
PAR: Jim Furyk. It’s not hard to win a Presidents Cup as an American captain (literally every one of them has done it), so it’s hard to judge Furyk’s leadership. His telling a reporter to “Go f— yourself” for asking if it might be better for the Internationals to win and inject life into a dead-horse competition was not a very dignified response. We’re all thinking what that reporter asked. And sitting out the guy who finished third in the FedEx Cup (Sahith Theegala) all day on Saturday seemed curious. But hey, a win’s a win.
BIRDIE: Team Kim. Koreans Si Woo and Tom Kim made a mesmerizing and energetic partnership, walking in putts, bumping chests, throwing fists and pumping up the crowds in ways that may not always come as naturally to the Canadians on the roster. Every team needs spark plugs, and these guys are well-suited to the role. Tom Kim has a little vinegar in him to get under skins, even drawing a “What was that!?” bark from his often stoic Dallas buddy, Scottie Scheffler. Si Woo’s running Steph Curry “Night-night” after a hole-out was classic – but next time maybe wait until you win the match.
BOGEY: Manufactured controversy. It started when some folks tried to stir things up by claiming Tom Kim and Sungjae Im leaving the green and going to the next tee before the Americans finished putting was some violation of the Geneva Convention. Kim, however, later threw gas on the spark by claiming – without substantiation – that some player(s) cursed at his antics. It was all just so weak. Leave the faux outrage and conspiracy stoking to the professionals in the U.K. tabloid press at the Ryder and Solheim Cups. Nobody can create a grudge out of nothing like they can.
BOGEY: Ben An. The 33-year-old Korean took offense at Wyndham Clark imitating the “night-night” gesture after Team Kim went down in the darkness Saturday and tweXted “You always have a guy in your group, who doesn’t do **** but talk **** all day.” An later deleted it, saying: “My apologies. I want to be a better person than that.”
BIRDIE: U.S. A-listers. The biggest American stars didn’t disappoint, with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (3 points), No. 2 Xander Schauffele (4), No. 4 Collin Morikawa (4) and No. 9 Patrick Cantlay (4) all delivering consistently – which has not always been the case for U.S. “on paper” superstars in team competitions. Cantlay’s dramatic final putt on 18 to close out a 1-up foursome win over Team Kim late Saturday was the nail in the Internationals’ coffin.
0-for-11: Adam Scott. The 44-year-old Aussie became the all-time leading International scorer (23 points; 20-28-6) in Presidents Cup history, but he seems destined never to experience a team victory in the biennial event. He’s played in 11 consecutive matches dating to the 2003 tie in South Africa but has encountered nothing but futility. Maybe when he gets to be captain, eventually, the Internationals will figure out a way to win again.
BIRDIE: Keegan Bradley. The 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain displayed his fire with a clutch clinching birdie for a 1-up win in the opening four-ball session and secured the decisive point by hanging onto a 1-up singles win. It felt redemptive for being left off last year’s Ryder Cup team. “If this is my last round as a player, I’m happy with that,” he said. Let’s hope he learned a few things about leadership in the team room and will finally get to open that old Ryder Cup goodie bag next year. And let’s be thankful we won’t have to watch his excruciating AimPoint routine at Bethpage (though unfortunately he’s not alone).
BOGEY: Four-balls. Both better-ball sessions felt dead, and there seemed to be far too few birdies being made by either side. Maybe that was a simple result of the home side losing eight of nine matches, but team golf is simply better when there is a consequence for every shot, which the foursomes and singles matches deliver in spades.
BIRDIE: Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im. The Internationals desperately needed a spark from its lead pairing after getting skunked on the opening day. Playing alternate-shot, they produced a remarkable eight birdies in 12 holes – including the last seven holes in a row – to stomp America’s most prolific partnership of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, 7 and 6. That set the tone for a critical International session sweep. Unfortunately, that didn’t carry over to Saturday
BOGEY: Max Homa and Brian Harman. Despite seasons beneath their own expectations, you expect more from a pair of grinders in an event like this. But the H&H team got on the bad end of two alternate-shot defeats. It cracked the portfolio of Homa (who did win the final singles point) as a reliable points earner in the last Presidents and Ryder Cups. Harman (0-3) was the only player on either team to go pointless.
HEALTHY SCRATCH: Min Woo Lee. After picking the 26-year-old Australian because “he brings a lot of power, a lot of flair,” Weir benched him for three consecutive sessions until it was pretty much too late in the Sunday singles. Curious management of a kid destined to be a big part of future International teams. Lee halved his singles match with Wyndham Clark on Sunday (as did fellow Saturday benchwarmer Ben An against Sahith Theegala, while Christiaan Bezuidenhout was the only International with a winning match record). “Next time play a little bit better and I’ll be right there,” Lee said.
BIRDIE: Sam Burns. He got a lot of flak for his desultory effort as a perceived buddy pick as Scheffler’s friend in the Ryder Cup in Rome. All he did this time was go 3-0-1 (3½ points) with the only unblemished record in Montreal, tying Tom Kim in the singles.
BOGEY: PGA Tour Radio. Listening to the entire Friday foursomes coverage while dodging the remnants and residue of Helene on Southeast highways, the energy of the International rally felt muted on radio despite the 167 times they used the word “electric.” The mics were dead on the first tee and rarely picked up the roars from the crowds. But most egregious was a complete lack of on-air international accents. How can they not have South African (Mark Immelman?) or Australian voices on the Presidents Cup broadcast team? The Open Radio is great for a reason.
BOGEY: Petty grievances. It’s too bad the PGA Tour can’t get over itself and include worthy players regardless of tour. The American tour doesn’t need outside representation, but the International market should have free rein to recruit. Enthusiasm for the Prez Cup has been on life support for years, so you’d think including the likes of Cam Smith, Joaquín Niemann, Carlos Ortiz, Louis Oosthuizen or Dean Burmester might inject some welcome depth and tension to the festivities.
BIRDIE: Kent State. The fact that three childhood friends who all crossed the border to college golf in Ohio for the Golden Flashes all ended up carrying the Canadian banner on the same Presidents Cup team in Montreal is storybook stuff. It’s a shame Taylor Pendrith, Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes couldn’t deliver a storybook home finish and the alums from the usual powerhouse places such as Georgia, Cal and Texas got the last laugh.
BOGEY: Four-day format. The Presidents Cup has been around for three decades, but the Ryder Cup knockoff has still never figured out the best thing the original has over it is the intensity of the three-day, 28-point format. A combination of weather and work left Thursday’s opening four-balls utterly devoid of atmosphere. Empty seats abounded around the first tee, and there was no energy that might have helped the “home” team avoid getting swept. The formula for the sauce is not secret.
BOGEY: Johnson Wagner. While his inside-the-ropes re-creations remain solid-gold content on Golf Channel, we can’t help but feel shorted that his reproduction of Woody Austin’s 2007 Presidents Cup shot from the pond at Royal Montreal didn’t include a re-enactment of Woody’s unforgettable flop into the drink. Booooooooo!
BIRDIE: Hats. Patrick Cantlay wore one. “We finally had one that had that odd of a shape that it would actually fit on there,” Furyk said, noting correctly that Cantlay did wear a hat two years ago at Quail Hollow. But the cap put a lid on that lingering Rome narrative.
BOGEY: Et tu, Canada? If a Canadian fan shouts something so derogatory at Scottie Scheffler about his wife that it causes caddie Ted Scott and Scheffler’s dad to confront the idiot, it is impossible to fathom how awful it’s going to be in New York for next year’s Ryder Cup. Please, please, please stay home if you can’t stay sober and civil. Creative enthusiasm – like the guy who asked Ted Scott to move his big fat wallet so they could see past the well-compensated bagman – is welcome. Boorishness is neither clever nor welcome.