2019 Presidents Cup - US wins, 16-14; G'day, mate, & Merry Christmas

[Hawkeye77]

That's what the Internationals are using.

 

Americans have to use the back of wedges left near every bunker.

[tbowles411]

Agreed. They literally had everything go right on a format they were strong in. That said, today is their weakest format. It could easily flip back even or worse. But, it jolted some excitement into the event. Plus that course is unreal. I'd love to play it and be punished for good shots... NOT! But I'd still love to play it!

[kmbean]

The shots of Justine basically on the tee box with them, lol and yikes. Protect your POS man honey.

Webb’s wife however, damn son. Jaw dropping.

[Warrick]

Golf channel is horrible, only thing that matters is TW win, only shot they care about is his chip in. I was hoping the ball gobbling and never miss a shot Of Tiger crap was over, hate watching golf when he is in the field, everyone else becomes an afterthought.

This is a team competition, got rolled yesterday

[MattyO1984]

From what I say of it (Sky Sports patching into the GG feed), I would have to agree with you. How it is possible not to show the tee shots of the first group on the second hole when there is only one other match which has just teed off is beyond me?!

[bladehunter]

Heck. They even screw that up. Was in play through commercial mode when tiger chipped in. We didn’t even see that live.

[bulls9999]

Why did Tiger play Dustin Johnson? He hasn't played a decent round in 6 months and was out for 2 months off surgery, didn't play Hero because still recouping.... so why not play Rickie (who played decent at Hero) and sit DJ? Jeesus, DJ missed a 4 foot putt for eagle and what was with our last group of guys (down-1) on the last hole that putted 20-feet past the hole and then missed again on the way back (of course). I saw a lot of bad choices and bad putts.

[Warrick]

No wonder they replayed it 306 times since yesterday

[tiderider]

well, that and it's one of the few bright spots for the US team ...

[redfirebird08]

 

It's a good question. Rickie is a pretty good wind player too, which would be helpful on this golf course. Also I think putting DJ and Woodland together was a mistake. Gary is a rookie, so bound to be nervous in his first match. DJ as we know is not healthy and hasn't been playing well as a result. Then mix in the type of golf course. Doesn't seem like great strategy to put two bombers together with questionable short games on a golf course that has similar greens to Augusta.

[jmck]

I was kind of thinking the opposite. Not about the course--its' clearly unreal!--but about the format. Haven't Americans been kind of terrible at alternate shot for like the last 20 or 30 years? I thought that was their weakest format? Or maybe that's one of those Ryder Cup things that for some reason doesn't translate to the President's Cup?

[munichop]

It was fun to watch power play less of a role in scoring. Peter Senior won tha Aussie Open on a fast firm windy course in 2012 iI believe. Fun to watch the ground become a factor as well. I hope the Internationals win just to put a little buzz back in the event. Im can really golf his ball.

[bscinstnct]

If TW has this aspect of his game back, gonna be a good year

 

[tungstenplug]

Some of the U.S. guys look LOST when the wind starts blowing a little bit

[stingerfade]

Love this course and how like St Andrews and other links courses the ground is firm and fast and part of the equation.

[seis]

It was mentioned that Im was the best player to come off the Hogan/Nike/Nationwide/Korn Ferry Tour in recent memory and may be the best player-ball striker on the Int team, his only weakness possibly being his putting. I like the Iron Byron nickname. Great slow tempo backswing then explodes into the ball.

[Oliver Klozoff]

Justin Leonard is a far, far better announcer than Paul Azinger. Azinger states the obvious and has that annoying nasally voice raising comment sentence finish every 2-3 minutes. Leonard occasionally says something about technique that one can learn from.

And the US team, much like its ryder cup teams, can't get the ball in play nor putt. Schaufelle, Woodland, DeChambeau, and DJ especially. They are built for PGA style courses. If I was their opponent I'd be on courses like Melbourne all the time. Firm and all about the angles.

[Sean2]

Or the "Talk Too Much Tee", :-)

[Sean2]

Like I said earlier, there is still a lot of golf to be played. The International team seems to have struggled a bit with the alternate shot format in the past. Be interesting to see what happens today (tomorrow? lol).

[Sean2]

He's been working out with DeChambeau. :-)

[redfirebird08]

 

The Americans are a lot better in alternate shot for Presidents Cup. My guess: the language barrier is a problem for the International team in Presidents Cup alternate shot. Not so much a problem for the European team in Ryder Cup alternate shot. So once you have a more level playing field on the language issue, the question becomes team chemistry and whatnot. Europe is clearly a lot better than the Americans in this regard.

[15th Club]

My "team" is winning this thing.  Not Team USA.  Not the International Team.  My team is Team Architecture, led by one of its greatest stars, the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

[Ferguson]

 

11 pounds, yes. Started running again.

 

Re: Picture at WRX

I went with a turtleneck "for the season" and a picture that displays "a different outlook", in terms of Phil and my overall posting contributions.

I shall return on Jan-2 with my typical attitude problem and the standard pic with the weather-beaten, salt-sprayed harbor buoy.

 

Thanks for asking.

Big fan of yours, Steele.

[Philomathesq]

I think Tiger should let Stricker and/or Zach Johnson create the strategy for the team going forward. Tiger's pairings made little sense and/or did not work at well. DJ and GW together makes little sense, as they both have similar strengths and weaknesses. Reed and Simpson looked like they were playing their rounds against each other, not together. I don't know if JT's admiration for Tiger affected his play or not, but he didn't play well. PReed should only play with Tiger, as he won't be phased in any way by Tiger.

[redfirebird08]

 

LOL, yet Reed went out there in Paris and played like a 15 handicap on his own ball in Tiger's group.

[Philomathesq]

That was before Reed went full sociopath. It's a win-win either way. He either plays well and helps us win, or he makes a fool out of himself and gets ridiculed even more.

[Ferguson]

 

Very panoptic point of view.

 

 

 

Here is the way I see it going down:

 

 

 

 

[redfirebird08]

 

I am curious to see how the JT & Tiger thing plays out. If they keep winning this week, I would guess there is a pretty good chance they are paired together in the next Ryder Cup. Reed and Bryson are both black sheep. It seems they put them with the nicest guys on the team (Simpson/Finau). Fowler is another option to pair with those guys, since Rickie is a really nice guy and seems very patient. Tiger being a black sheep in his own right, it makes sense that he is one of the few who actually gets along with Reed & Bryson.

[aenemated]

Seriously, I'm totally in love with this course. I've always loved links style courses ever since playing the Heathland course at Legends in Myrtle Beach as a kid and having actually finally played the real deal; love them even more. I've never hit the ball especially high and feel most comfortable hitting controlled knockdowns - leading to one of my best rounds of the year being played at Carnoustie.

RMGC is definitely on my bucket list now.

[jmck]

Ah, good points, thanks. I'll fess up to not following the President's Cups too closely over the years, but between Royal Melbourne and Cheety McCheeterson I'm all in this year, lol.