The Presidents Cup is here and it looks to be as one-sided as it has been in the previous 13 meetings between USA and the International team.
Team USA, led this week by Davis Love III, will take on Trevor Immelman’s side at the fabulous Quail Hollow.
The Americans have won the Presidents Cup 13 to just one for their opponents and you have to go back to 1998 for the last time they won it. The 17-17 tie in the 2003 event was the last time the internationals got anything from this.
Nothing comes easy at Quail Hollow.#PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/m49xaG5w7O
— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) September 21, 2022
The Teams
USA: Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Cameron Young.
International: Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Joo Hyung ‘Tom’ Kim, Corey Conners, Adam Scott, Mito Pereira, Taylor Pendrith, KH Lee, Sebastian Munoz, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Si Woo Kim, Cam Davis.
Sungjae Im and two of his biggest fans aka @JordanSpieth and @JustinThomas34 😉#PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/NxLlsSKchC
— Presidents Cup (@PresidentsCup) September 21, 2022
It is a young American side but despite their ages, there is a lot of PGA and Major wins among them. There are a number of solid players on the other side but it is just Matsuyama and Scott that can boast a major victory.
It wouldn’t be a proper preview if we didn’t mention that both sides have been weakened by LIV Golf and the suspensions from the competition that players have received. Cam Smith and Dustin Johnson who battled it out in Chicago would have been key pieces on both teams but will not be in North Carolina.
USA are rightfully huge favourites for this at 1/7 so unless you fancy a big upset for the Internationals it may be worth looking at other markets.
In six of the past eight events the Americans have won by three or more points on six occasions. The current line is –6.5 points but that looks large in a competition of just 34 matches. 2017 is the only one of those recent matches where the score has really got out of hand so backing the Internationals at that sort of line could be a good bet here, but the effect of the missing players is probably going to affect the away team a lot more here.
Say cheese 🤳#USTeam pic.twitter.com/lZtxNSyjub
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 20, 2022
USA did of course put that sort of beating on a strong European team at last year’s Ryder Cup when they triumphed 19-11, but some of the team are not quite in the form that they were there and they are missing players such as Johnson who was 5-0 at Whistling Straights that week. They will also be without Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, although it is possible that none of them would have been in the team anyway.
It could be argued that as many as eight players from the opponents are now on the LIV Tour though. As well as Smith, there is Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer, Anirban Lahiri, Marc Leishman Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel that would all have qualified or been in the running for Captain’s picks if available.
Leading scorer markets can be a place where we can find an edge, but working out who is likely to be paired together, and play more games is where we can really take advantage. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele are great friends and won the pairs competition on the PGA Tour last season. They are likely to play every session, either together or with somebody else. So 17/2 and 7/1 respectively for top overall scorer could be great options this week.
At 20 years old, Tom Kim is no stranger to the big stage.
His meteoric rise continues this week @PresidentsCup. pic.twitter.com/zOCwIWH6QF
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 20, 2022
It is hard to pick somebody on the international side but Adam Scott’s veteran presence in among an inexperienced side could be vital and could see him playing a lot more than his age would suggest. He has played some good golf over the past 12 months and at 25/1 could be the best of the longshots to take home the award for top points scorer.
It is so hard to see this going anywhere but back to USA unless we see the likes of Tom Kim and KH Lee really go off and play out of their skins. But it is still a great event, even if it is likely to be very one sided. When matches are announced each day there will of course be plenty of markets to sink your teeth into.
