Scottie Scheffler has received *every part* in 2024, however the Presidents Cup presents a distinct type of take a look at.
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Scottie Scheffler has all of the solutions.
That’s the large distinction between final yr, when he was the perfect golfer on the earth with out the resume, and this yr, when he was each. Changing into a head-and-shoulders World No. 1, discovering glory on the Masters and Olympics, incomes $62 million in a calendar yr — these are all issues that preclude you from dealing with the nagging existential queries that plague nearly each different golfer alive.
And but, that’s the humorous factor about golf: you by no means have all of it found out. That’s how Scheffler arrives in Montreal dealing with probably the most in depth set of questions of any participant on this week’s Presidents Cup discipline, regardless of being solely weeks faraway from finishing some of the profitable seasons of any golfer ever.
Questions like: can nice golfers be nice staff play opponents? And in addition: what occurred to Scheffler on Group USA in ’22 and ’23?
Match play is a fickle foe, however match play occasions are satisfying of their readability. Those that carry out nicely can look to the Presidents or Ryder Cup as validation of an entire yr’s value of labor; those that carry out poorly might be pressured to wrestle with the other.
Scheffler will likely be safely exempt from these extremes this week in Montreal, however he’ll face questions — and strain — greater than simply his physique of labor. And as we glance into the gamers beneath probably the most strain at Royal Montreal, he’s the place we start.
6 gamers beneath probably the most Presidents Cup strain
1. Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler’s ascendant 2024 season reached heights untouched since Tiger Woods. Now he will likely be relied upon to raise his teammates, too. That’s a giant ask for anybody, however it’s a much bigger ask for Scheffler, whose lone resume blemish via 4 years on the PGA Tour has are available in staff occasions.
Ever since his undefeated Ryder Cup introduction in Whistling Straits, Scheffler’s staff play outcomes have gone sideways. He’s 0-5-3 — winless — in two staff play begins since.
There are legitimate excuses for his poor play: he entered Quail Hole in ’22 ice-cold after a number of the solely missed cuts of his skilled profession, and was removed from the lone U.S. offender within the mollywhopping in Rome.
However these excuses are gone now, and the reality is straightforward: If the U.S. is to turn into a perennial powerhouse in these occasions, they want Scheffler as the anchor of the staff, not an anchor. We’ll discover out this week if he’s as much as it.
2. The Worldwide Group
There are a couple of offensively overwrought Presidents Cup storylines, however none greater than the suggestion the Internationals want a win to deliver some legitimacy to the occasion. There are far greater points plaguing the legitimacy of the Presidents Cup than its lopsided win-loss totals, like, for instance, the problem of a lot of the perfect expertise on the Worldwide aspect enjoying for a rival skilled tour. An Worldwide win received’t change these info any greater than a heaping serving of poutine will change my BMI — quickly.
Whereas I wouldn’t count on the Internationals to point out as much as the social gathering with washboard abs, I do count on them to point out us they’ve been consuming their greens. The final two iterations of the occasion — Australia in ’19 and North Carolina in ’22 — have introduced out surprisingly aggressive and cohesive Worldwide sides, and I’d argue the strain is on captain Mike Weir to reply the bell once more.
Vegas has the house staff as +260 underdogs on Tuesday morning, and a win is likely to be out of attain. However a pesky Worldwide aspect and an electrified Canadian crowd needs to be cheap expectations.
3. Patrick Cantlay
Excellent news for these hoping to keep away from a second-straight yr of staff golf attire storylines: Patrick Cantlay has confirmed as much as this yr’s Presidents Cup carrying a hat.
Whereas a dialogue on the deserves of pay-for-play may need to attend for subsequent yr, Cantlay enters this week as some of the intriguing U.S. storylines.
Patty Ice adopted up probably the most explosive second of his skilled profession final fall in Rome with one in every of his extra disappointing seasons between the ropes (no wins, 4 top-10s). It’s straightforward to overlook now, however Cantlay was far and away a very powerful participant on the U.S. aspect final fall. A repeat efficiency would go a good distance towards resetting expectations in ’25.
4. Tom Kim
It was a largely painful 2024 season for Tom Kim. The unabashed star of the final Presidents Cup suffered a couple of crushing defeats — in a playoff on the Vacationers, off the rostrum on the Olympics — and, for the primary time in his skilled profession, no PGA Tour victories.
We all know higher than to discuss with complete seasons purely as profession steps ahead or again, however Kim would do nicely for himself to remind the golf world why he was such an ascendant star after the final Presidents Cup — and why, at simply 22 years previous, he nonetheless is likely to be.
5. Wyndham Clark
The 2024 season proved a wierd one for Wyndham Clark, the ’23 U.S. Open champ. Statistically, it was among the best seasons of his profession, with a win at Pebble Seaside in Feburary adopted by a lip-out near-miss on the Gamers in March, and a number of different top-10s all through the PGA Tour season. However his recreation appeared to fade because the season wore on, and his struggles multiplied within the majors. He admitted not too long ago that it took him some time to return to event type on the Ryder Cup final yr, however you’ll be able to wager Wyndham is chomping on the bit to scrub the style of ’24 in Montreal.
6. Min Woo Lee
Of all of the staff play first-timers, “The Chef” is the one with the most important likelihood to out himself as a bonafide star in Montreal. Lee, the brother of U.S. Ladies’s Open champ Minjee, has flashed some severe expertise since arriving on the PGA Tour final spring. Maybe simply as importantly, he’s displayed a showman’s sense of the dramatic on a staff that has historically rallied round its younger stars.
If the Internationals do make a run in Montreal, count on Min Woo to be within the middle of the combo. He normally is.
