Internationals still looking for a way to win after Presidents Cup defeat

L'Île-Bizard, Que. – There aren’t many jobs in golf more challenging than being captain of the International team in the Presidents Cup. Just ask Mike Weir, who worked his tail off the last two years before coming out on the losing end of the biennial competition against the U.S. team.

It marked the 10^th consecutive victory for the American team, which manhandled Weir’s side 7.5-4.5  in the Sunday singles matches to finish with a record of 18.5-11.5. It’s the largest margin of victory for the U.S. team on foreign soil.

For Weir, it was a gut punch after a week that saw plenty of ups and downs both emotionally and on the scoreboard.

“I'd say just sitting here as a competitor, it's tough,” stated Weir. “We all feel it, it's tough to take. It just happened, right; it's a little bit raw.”

Just as with previous captains such as Trevor Immelman, Ernie Els and Nick Price, Weir’s decisions on pairing players as well as which to play and which to sit out will be second-guessed. There is a large contingent of Monday morning captains who started doing that on Saturday when Weir sat four players for both rounds.

He admitted later that he was trying to ride the momentum from Friday’s sweep of the matches, using players who had been hot and pumped up the fans. But the move failed when the U.S. won six points to the Internationals two. Two of those points came on the 18^th hole, making the sting even harsher.

U.S. captain Jim Furyk, on the other hand, is seen as a genius in the eyes of many. He put together great pairings and spread out the starts. That must be the reason his side won, isn’t it? In reality, Furyk’s team was impressively talented and he could have had his players pull names out of a hat and would likely produced a winning team. They were just that good and playing that well.

“These guys, they were so easy to work with,” stated Furyk, “the best 12 guys that I could have ever imagined. I could have paired them up a million different ways. I think that was the hardest part, to be honest with you, that they got along so well, the personalities gelled so well.”

On Sunday’s Weir’s squad came out wearing all black, perhaps a tribute to Weir who traditionally wore black on Sundays, most notably when he won the 2003 Masters. They were charged up by the first-tee mayhem from supportive fans. But right from the start, the you’re-kidding-me momentum was on the side of the U.S.

Xander Schauffele, the lead-off American player hit his tee shot into the trees on the left side of the hole while opponent Jason Day was in the middle of the fairway. Schauffele manoeuvred his ball onto the green and then drained a 45-foot putt for an improbable birdie, tying Day.

Two groups later, Scottie Scheffler hit his approach into a greenside bunker and appeared to give the advantage to Hideki Matsuyama. That was until he flew his shot from the sand into the cup and won the hole.

It continued through to the last group. Mackenzie Hughes hit his approach on the first hole to five feet. Max Homa countered by holing out from the fairway. There really was no let up.

There was a period on the middle of the afternoon when the scoreboard showed a number ofd Internationals leading in their matches and the calculators were heating up trying to see if there was a possibility of a comeback, perhaps a Miracle in Montreal. But it was snuffed out early and next year’s Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley claimed the wining point on the 18^th green.

Now the Internationals must regroup for an away game in Chicago in two year’s time. Once again, they will attempt to find some magic that will let them snuff out the winning streak held by the Americans. It won’t be easy, and the questions will rise again for the next captain.