Diminished Star Power Curbs Presidents Cup Fan Enthusiasm

The biennial global golf grudge match, pitting a team from the United States against the world ex-Europe, has long played second fiddle to its older and more established cousin, the Ryder Cup.

But as the quantity and caliber of golf talent emerging from Asia, South America and elsewhere continues to blossom, the consensus has been that the Presidents Cup’s stature was bound to rise markedly.

Team U.S.A triumphed in the last eight matchups but only two points separated the competing squads in the last tournament, giving credence to the idea that the world was closing the talent gap.

The ensuing fallout over the bifurcation of professional golf caused by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series entering the fray has thrown a monkey wrench, at least temporarily, into that theory. The International Team’s star wattage has been noticeably dimmed with multiple LIV defectors including Open Championship winner Cam Smith and Genesis Invitational winner Joaquin Niemann ineligible to play. And while Team U.S.A has lost marquee names to LIV as well, they have a much deeper bench and are massive odds-on favorites at -700 to win outright in most sportsbooks.

Joey Saporito, a diehard golf fan who made the trek down to Charlotte from Cincinnati, is hunting down the last few autographs to complete his souvenir pin flag. He’s intently eying a group coming off the putting green, sharpie ready in hand. Saporito, who works for General MillsGIS
, purchased his tickets the very day the window to buy them opened up. He’s most excited about seeing Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler play as well as Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth but there are also a couple notable absences that he will miss.

“Cam Smith is one of them and I would have liked to see Dustin Johnson too, you always see him at the Ryder Cup,” Saporito says.

He hopes that LIV players will be eligible for next year’s Ryder Cup but he feels that won’t be the case, forecasting that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour will “take a stance on it and force the organizers’ hand.”

Zach McLaren, a commercial real estate agent in Charlotte bought tournament tickets for his family just a month ago. A London, Ontario transplant, he’s most excited to follow Canadians Corey Conners and Taylor Pendrith but is also keen on catching Team U.S.A. players Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in action.

He too bemoans the absences of the notable players that otherwise would have been chosen to play had they not made the move to LIV. He predicts the Ryder Cup may end up deciding differently on the matter.

“Given that it is not a PGA Tour sanctioned event I think there is a high probability that [LIV players] will be involved,” McLaren says.

While the sapped star power seems to tip the scales heavily in favor of Team USA, the team captains and the players themselves will not go so far as to predict it will be an absolute rout.

“We’re used to being called the favorite. Even when we lose three Ryder Cups in a row, they tell us, oh, but they’re the favorite. The other captain, or the other team or you guys remind us that we’re the favorite. So, we’re used to that. That’s on paper, and a lot of great coaches will tell you the game is not played on paper, it’s played out there on the golf course,” Team U.S.A’s Captain Davis Love III said.

Meanwhile International Team captain Trevor Immelman makes it abundantly clear that he relishes his team’s underdog status.

“I think it’s quite clear that we’re the underdogs. We generally have been in this competition over the years so it’s a tag that we’re used to. But the exciting part for us is I do think that it frees us up because we have nothing to lose. If you look at our record in this tournament and you look at our World Rankings versus their World Rankings, we have absolutely nothing to lose,” Immelman said.

“We can go out there and play absolutely as free as we want, free as we can and see if we can match up with the crazy good skills the Americans have, that they show us week in and week out,” he added.

Billy Horschel, who is making his Presidents Cup debut, was asked whether it is in the realm of possibility that Team USA accrues so many points that Sunday essentially becomes a victory lap. While the seven-time PGA Tour winner, whose last victory came this past June at the Memorial Tournament, did not dismiss the far-fetched possibility as completely out of sort, he demurred.

“Anything’s a possibility, but I mean, it’s never been done before, and I’m not a stats guy, but I’m going to say the percentage of it being done is very low. We’ve still got to go out there and compete, and there’s still a really good international team over there with a lot of up-and-coming players. So, I’m going to say the possibility is very slim,” Horschel said.