Woods continued his stellar play from the last few weeks leading into this competition. Without sounding like Captain Obvious (no relation to Captain America), Team USA doesn't bring back the Cup if Tiger isn't the 'playing captain'. There just wasn't another choice available that could deliver like he knew he was capable. There were a lot of critics after Tiger chose himself as one of his 4 picks and thankfully, they were dead wrong.
President's Cup Australia 2019 - Captain Tiger's 4 at-large picks?
, 9-3 in singles...but 16-14, 8-4 is pretty darn good. International team should be proud of how they played and it came down to the wire!
mikeintopeka
"There were a lot of critics after Tiger chose himself as one of his 4 picks and thankfully, they were dead wrong."
For sure,the one's who were 'bashing' Tiger for choosing himself as a player don't get to post their...
"He shit the bed" comments! LOL
That was too close. Glad to see our boys wake up and hunker down. I was beginning to think they were taking these guys for granted.
On a side note. Was this really an International team? Didn't most of those guys go to college here, play on the PGA Tour and live in Orlando?
your last statement is what I’ve thought as well. You’ve went to school here, sometimes married a girl here, made your living here, and make a home here. Yet you go play on a international team and have this almost hate for the USA team and the players (well at least certain ones, Reed lol).
sdandrea1 - I embrace the International golfers if they are here legally, follow the rules, and respect our culture. They strengthen the fields and we can learn from them too.
An 'International' golf team Americans compete against is no different than our athletes playing against competitors they may have run into in college and then the Olympic Games where they go back and join their homeland's team.
Since both the Euros, International and Americans play both tours, its probably impossible to have a true USA vs Anyone event. I was just commenting on how the movement of many Euro and International players to the US for education and earning their living has changed the 2 Cup events. I welcome them too.
I've always been a little surprised that the International team gets as much buy-in from their players as it is. They aren't representing their country directly as a member of an international team, but they still seem to be more into it than the Americans that are. I think for many of them it offers a broader international stage than their home tours and they like the world-wide exposure as much or more than the competition.
I'm pretty jingoistic when it comes to world politics and the American way of life - not so much when it comes to sporting competitions for some reason though. I enjoy watching the paired team match play formats as a change of pace regardless of national affiliation. Most fans seem to really enjoy the us vs. them aspect on both sides and I guess that's good for golf in general if it fuels the dreams of youngsters around the world.
johnnydoom I enjoy watching the paired team match play formats as a change of pace regardless of national affiliation.
THIS!! ^^
mikeintopeka
FWIW.....here is Golf Magazines "grades" for all 24 players and the Captains from this year's President's Cup....
Personally, I thought it was GREAT competition, and one of the real winners was Royal Melbourne! What a golf course that place looks like! The green complexes on nearly every hole looked really difficult. Can't believe how well both teams did at negotiating those putting surfaces!
fatshot Can't believe how well both teams did at negotiating those putting surfaces!
I thought it took Team USA a couple of rounds to figure out the greens - not only putting but getting their pitch and run approaches close. There may not have been a whole lot of more putts made during the singles matches but there were a whole lot more 'gimmes' and a lot less 3 putts that Americans were facing due to running it so far by the earlier rounds.
I read some match predictions Sunday morning before the start of the competition and some nods were given to the Internationals because they were putting better. I'm thinking our guys are among the best professionals in the world, with the ability to make adjustments, so they probably have figured the green complexes out by now. And they did.
mikeintopeka
BTW, I also read somewhere that the "Championship Course" at Royal Melbourne is a composite course. They have 36 holes there, and they play the 18 best for championships. Talk about an embarrassment of riches!