In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last month or so, today begins the 2019 President’s Cup hosted in Australia. The President’s Cup features the United States vs International teams both made up of 12 outstanding golfers. The 2019 United States team includes: Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar, Xander Schauffele, Webb Simpson, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, and Rickie Fowler. They will be facing a “not-so-stacked” International team featuring: Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Marc Leishman, Abraham Ancer, Haotong Li, C.T. Pan, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Adam Hadwin, Sungjae Im, and Byeong Hun An.
While the United States team seems to be the absolute favorite in recent history (losing only once in the last 25 years), 2019 leaves a gray area where we have lots of speculation in how the United States will play. There are a few main factors that make me think we may have a tough challenge this year. First, perhaps the best United States golfer in the last five years dropped out—Brooks Koepka. And for some reason, Tiger Woods chose Rickie Fowler to replace him. Why did he do that? I’m not quite sure. The format for the President’s Cup is four-ball, foursome matches, and singles. To be completely honest, Rickie Fowler is not the greatest match player, so slotting him in place of Koepka may be fatal.
The States team also includes Kuchar, who was great at last year’s Dell Technologies, and even had a chance to win the FedEx Cup. However, he is by no means the most consistent player on Tour—in fact, he is spotty at best. The United States is also bringing in five rookies to the President’s Cup, which could prove very beneficial, or just down-right horrible.
On the flip side, The United States boast Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland, and Justin Thomas. All of which are coming off phenomenal placings at the Hero World Challenge. Tiger Woods, well, he needs no introduction. The man is simply the greatest golfer in the history of the sport (yes, I did just say that). Gary Woodland played almost flawless golf at the Hero and his green-reading ability will hopefully carry over into this week. And last but not least, there’s Justin Thomas. Thomas is quite reasonably the best match player on Tour—even taking down Rory McIlroy in last year’s Ryder Cup.
Overall, even with the bad taste of Patrick Reed in everyone’s mouth, the 24 hour travel to Australia, and the potential rise that many of the International team members boast, we can expect to see a fairly dominant United States team taking down Matsuyama and the International team this week.
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