Arguably the most anticipated and certainly on paper at least tightest Presidents Cup takes place this week with Asia hosting the biannual battle between the USA and the Internationals for the first time.
This will be the 11th staging of the tournament which has a Ryder Cup feel to it although it isn’t as fiercely contested as the age old rivalry for Samuel Ryder’s trophy. A rivalry is beginning to brew though because USA have totally dominated past events.
In the previous 10 tournaments the USA have won eight to the Internationals one with one famous tie in South Africa in 2003. Many judges believe this is the best chance of the Internationals to get on the board with conditions in Korea likely to suit them more.
Not only will Korean conditions suit them more but finally four matches have been cut from the schedule. Fewer matches should in theory provide a closer contest as the lack of depth in the Internationals side in recent years has been badly exposed. That is unlikely to be the case this year.
In fact there isn’t such a lack of depth for them this year so it is ironic four matches have been chopped from the schedule. Seven of the Internationals’ 12 man team have won on either the PGA Tour or the European Tour this year and two others were edged out in a playoff for The Open so they’re a strong side.
USA look to defend their title but you could easily argue that picking a below par Phil Mickelson combined with the Jim Furyk injury and Chris Kirk only just returning from injury gives them a weaker look than in tournaments gone past. On the flip side Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson are major champions in 2015 and only two of their 12 haven’t won a tournament in 2015.
As with the Ryder Cup this battle will be settled over foursomes and fourball matches in pairs ahead of the singles on Sunday which will ultimately decide the destiny of the trophy. Unlike the Ryder Cup the tournament is four days so there is just one session on Thursday and Friday.
The Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon will stage the tournament this week. The course, which is largely irrelevant in matchplay, is a par 72 and can extend to 7,380 yards but in the humid conditions that isn’t a particularly long course.
Like all Nicklaus courses the landing areas are quite wide off the tee but good golf shots get rewarded. Bad ones will be punished so the emphasis if you want to keep bogey off the card is to find the fairways. There is a nice mix of risk/reward holes and tough holes to make this a wonderful matchplay track.
The USA are rightful favourites for this tournament, largely based on the past, but they’ve never been the best travellers so they are going to be in a battle here. It has been a long season for many of their top players and that could have an impact on them this week.
This is without a doubt the strongest International team there has been and you get the feeling they have really targeted this week. They should be slightly fresher going into the event and with a couple of Korean born players in their side they aren’t going to be short of support either.
I really think this will be a close match. America might have the edge in the fourballs but I’m not so sure their advantage in the other formats is as strong this year so at the prices available a punt on the home side looks the obvious play to me.
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