It will not fairly be Alabama‘s top-ranked soccer crew taking part in Akron on its house area, however the U.S. figures to be an amazing favourite to defeat the Worldwide crew for the ninth straight time within the Presidents Cup in two weeks.
U.S. crew captain Davis Love III stuffed out his remaining roster spots Wednesday with six of the highest 26 gamers within the Official World Golf Rating: Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, Cameron Younger, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner.
They’re going to be a part of world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Sam Burns and Tony Finau on the U.S. crew.
Will probably be the youngest U.S. crew in Presidents Cup historical past, with a mean age of 29.6 years. The Presidents Cup is scheduled for Sept. 22-25 at Quail Hole Membership in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Regardless that a stacked U.S. crew would be the favourite, Love mentioned it should play effectively below stress.
“It is nonetheless going to be that stadium, that first tee, American flags and ‘Go USA,'” Love mentioned. “That is their 12-man crew that has by no means performed collectively earlier than. They need to win for this crew. I do not assume we’ll must do an excessive amount of messaging or motivation. Definitely, you do not need to be on a shedding crew ever.”
The Worldwide crew’s highest-ranked gamers are Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and South Korea’s Sungjae Im, who’re sixteenth and 18th, respectively. Two of the Worldwide crew’s anticipated stars, Australia’s Cameron Smith and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, are ineligible for the crew after defecting to the LIV Golf circuit.
“We perceive precisely the mountain that now we have in entrance of us: Presumably the perfect American crew ever assembled should you take a look at them on paper with their accomplishments and what their world rankings are,” Worldwide crew captain Trevor Immelman mentioned Tuesday.
The common world rating of the U.S. crew is 11.8; the Worldwide crew’s is 48.8. The U.S. crew contains 5 of the highest 10 gamers on the planet and 11 of the highest 20. The Worldwide crew has no gamers within the high 10 and two within the high 20.
“Trevor goes to have a crew that is acquired a chip on their shoulder, that is motivated and desires to show that they’ll nonetheless be aggressive,” Love mentioned. “Now we have to watch out. Definitely, these guys aren’t going to take it mendacity down.”
Love principally adopted script in making his captain’s alternatives, after shedding Will Zalatoris, who was seventh within the Presidents Cup standings, to a again harm that induced him to overlook the season-ending Tour Championship. Spieth, Morikawa, Homa, Horschel and Younger have been eighth to twelfth within the standings, and Kisner, a veteran and match-play specialist, was fifteenth.
Tom Hoge and J.T. Poston have been simply forward of Kisner within the Presidents Cup standings, however weren’t chosen for the crew.
Kisner, 38, gained the WGC-Dell Applied sciences Match Play in 2019 and was runner-up in 2018 and this season, when he misplaced to Scheffler within the finals. Kisner went 2-0-2 and earned three factors in his solely earlier Presidents Cup look, at Liberty Nationwide Golf Membership in New Jersey in 2017. He’s thought to be the most effective putters on the planet and completed seventh on the 2017 PGA Championship held at Quail Hole.
Scheffler, Morikawa, Burns, Horschel, Younger and Homa are Presidents Cup first-timers. Scheffler and Morikawa competed on the U.S. crew that blasted Europe 19-9 within the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.
Whereas the U.S. has historically struggled within the Ryder Cup, it has gained 11 of the 13 previous Presidents Cups, shedding simply as soon as, 20 ½-11 ½ in Melbourne, Australia, in 1998. The groups tied 17-17 in George, South Africa, in 2003.
Behind captain Tiger Woods, the U.S. crew gained 16-14 in Melbourne within the final Presidents Cup in 2019.
“What we do within the Presidents Cup higher than the Ryder Cup is we do not have this concern of shedding or this doubt in our head,” Love mentioned. “We simply go in with quite a lot of confidence and now we have to maintain that momentum going. It was just a little nearer than we needed final time in Australia.”
