The U.S. Presidents Cup team is focused on earning 15 points heading into this week’s tournament in Royal Montreal, the number needed for the U.S. to win its 10th consecutive Presidents Cup title and its first unbeaten streak since 1998.
Traditionally, this hasn’t been a problem. The U.S. has only faced two real threats since a 17-17 tie in 2003. The first was a 15.5-14.5 late win in South Korea in 2015. The other was in 2019, when Tiger Woods’ red, white and blue team cruised to a 16-14 victory in Australia. To beat an international team, they needed a great singles performance on the final day of competition.
So what would it mean to get the job done on Sunday (a little earlier than later)? How would the U.S. score 15 points?
The good news is that the talent gap means there are multiple paths to victory. The Americans don’t need to win all those points, but if they do, they might be able to pull off another blowout 19-11 victory, like they did at Liberty National in 2017.
Let’s take a look.
America’s Path to Victory
1. Maintaining Foursome Dominance: These statistics are astonishing. The U.S. completely dominates foursomes in this event. Of course, this is to be expected as foursomes expose a team’s weaknesses. The most talented team will almost always win in foursomes. It doesn’t make sense that the U.S. has 3 wins, 19 losses, and 2 draws in foursomes in the past three Road Ryder Cups, but that’s not relevant here.
At the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow, the U.S. led 4-1 in foursomes on Thursday, effectively ending the tournament. This time around, the foursomes won’t be played until Friday, but if the result is the same, the tournament will still feel in jeopardy come Saturday morning.
2. Start strong and keep the crowd out: In this regard, the U.S. has built a combined lead of 20-12 on the first day of the past six Presidents Cups. It’s rudimentary and simplistic to tell a team they need to start strong to win, but that’s been crucial to the U.S. formula for the past decade. A Ryder Cup in Canada is certainly going to be pretty raucous, maybe even raucous than Korea and Australia, where the past two Presidents Cups were held outside the U.S. Keeping the away crowd out early will probably be even more important than usual.
3. Release Scottie: I’ve been adamant this week about Scottie Scheffler’s struggles. He’s 0-5-3 in team events since his first Ryder Cup. Maybe that’s not a big deal, but maybe it’s not. He and Sam Burns like to play together, but maybe it’s worth separating the two and trying something different. Playing him on the course with someone like Sahith Teegala, Keegan Bradley or even Max Homa, a more aggressive player who can take advantage of his poise, might be a better bet.
Such pairings are often determined by statistical fit rather than psychological synergy. In that sense, Barnes and Scheffler may actually be each other’s best match. But it would be problematic if the best player in the world, fresh off his best season in 15 years, falters and goes 4-1-0. In 2022, the U.S. won by five points at Quail Hollow, while Scheffler went 0-3-1. What would the U.S. do if Scheffler actually scored a goal?
4. Suppress the International Momentum: The International team has two golfers who aren’t playing that well but are fearsome when they’re in good form: Tom Kim and Min Woo Yi. Judging by their performance over the last three or six months, these two are on the weaker side of the field, but both have the potential to be ferocious attackers. Depending on the opponent, it may be wise to throw in Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay for one of these two players to ensure that there’s a sizable amount of positivity and momentum being generated on the International team’s side.
5. Pound Green: When it comes to tee-to-green play, the U.S. team is almost always the best, and this year is no exception. What’s different? The golf course.
“The golf course is great,” Collin Morikawa said. “The greens are small, which suits my game. They’re undulating. The greens run great. Like any match play, you need to make a lot of putts here.”
The one that stands out is the “small greens.” This U.S. team is very good at hitting the greens, and it’s going to be harder than usual this week at Royal Montreal. Keep an eye on the stroke gains on approach on Thursday and Friday. As always, I think the team that actually takes a bit more of a conservative approach will take the lead in that category and in the tournament.
Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Patrick McDonald and Greg Ducharme preview the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.