We think the President’s Cup can be saved.
The Presidents Cup is like the little brother who’s always striving to be as cool as his older sibling, yet constantly coming up short at every turn. No matter how hard he may try, it just doesn’t work.
Sunday marked yet another obliteration of the International team by the ever-dominant USA side. If there had been any questions left regarding the Tiger – effect on home soil, 2017 should leave no shred of a doubt – golf in America is thriving at the upper echelons.
Take for instance the overall history of the Presidents Cup. It’s as if we’re looking at Mike Tyson’s early career record – KOs everywhere. Since inception, USA has won all but two Presidents Cups; one of those being a tie. That’s 10-1-1 for anyone keeping score at home. I mean, it’s becoming more and more similar to that older brother toying with his struggling sibling, effortlessly holding him back with a stiff palm to the forehead.
For all the great Ryder Cup battles we have been fortunate enough to witness, the Presidents Cup has faltered almost in annual synchronization. Despite the Internationals trotting out relative talent, these stars rarely keep peace with the strength of the American roster.
As impressive as 10-1-1 may be, it also projects the glaring inequality left between these two teams. The Presidents Cup is thus in an obvious and dire need of a facelift. Several ideas come to mind – for one, teams need to be much more balanced overall. It’s clear the USA is producing many of the world’s top players, so the format of the Presidents Cup is likely in need of some tweaking.
For example, the current top 20 players in the official world golf rankings has seven American players (Johnson, Speith, Thomas, Fowler, Koepka, Kuchar, and Reed) whereas International team countries only post three (Matsuyama, Day and Leishman). That’s a large hurdle to overcome right off the start.
But we don’t want the Presidents Cup to throw in the towel just yet. It’s a fun event, and still, shows signs of promise despite its lopsided history. So let’s instead toss this baby into the blender for a minute or so.
What if players were subjected to a simple draft format where captains are chosen by conventional methods, however, each captain would then have the opportunity to draft any eligible player whether coming from the American or International side? This may lack a certain ‘us versus them’ sentiment, but in all honesty, this feeling is mediocre at best during the event when players are stemming from countries as far as Japan to South Africa, all the way up to Canada. It certainly doesn’t compare to the tightly-knit sensation the Europeans often exude during the Ryder Cup.
In either case, the Presidents Cup is not working. It needs re-shaping because, at its roots, it has the promise of functioning as an entertaining event that may one day rival the older, much more exciting Ryder Cup. However, as of now, fans are simply left waiting for the inevitable second round uppercut.
